


City Boy

by StrayKiss



Series: Two Worlds Collide [1]
Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artist!Jisung, Chan has a knife, Changbin has a gun, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Gang AU, Hurt/Comfort, Jisung is small boy™, Jisung needs to be protected at all costs, Love Traingle, Multi, Romantic Tension, Violence, but its not really a gang, gang members!Changbin and Chan, is that even a thing?, someone save these boys from me I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-07-25 15:41:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20028250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrayKiss/pseuds/StrayKiss
Summary: Changbin hears a quiet click behind him and the hairs on the back of his neck raise. Did the cops really get here that fast? He turns around slowly, expecting to be met with the barrel of a cocked gun, but instead finds himself reflected in the lens of a camera.-or-Jisung is an artist from the city who always seems drawn to danger and the unknown, but this time his camera has brought him to the brink of chaos and darkness. Will he fall? And who's going to catch him?-or-Jisung gets unwillingly pulled into gang life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> New SKZ fic yay! I plan to update every Monday at or around 12pm EST and Sunday around 6pm EST. I hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for reading!
> 
> I will post TW as needed before each chapter

Busy cars speed past in the chilly night air and turn into blurs of red tail lights as they race towards the city. Even though it's dark outside, the buzzing neon lights from the skyline cast an unnatural glow of mixed hues onto the surroundings as far out as the edge of the Suburbs. A black-clad figure is sitting on top of an overpass, legs dangling over the edge as he watches the city lights blink from afar.

He’s so close to freedom. He can almost feel the vibrant thrum of the city-goers beckoning him in, and yet he knows that he won’t ever get any further than the boundary by his own will. He takes a long drag from his cigarette and lets the smoke get whisked away into the cold air.

The sudden loud slam of metal and glass colliding in the distance rips an exasperated sigh from the boy. A crash means that the cops would be around soon. It also means that the steady, thrumming flow of engines beneath him would stop, so he really didn’t have any reason to still be out here. He doesn’t leave yet though, doesn’t want to go back into the Suburbs. He just wants to enjoy the lights for a bit longer before plunging himself back into the darkness of his own life.

The boy suddenly hears a quiet click behind him and the hairs on the back of his neck raise. Did the cops really get here that fast? He turns around slowly, expecting to be met with the barrel of a cocked gun, but instead finds himself reflected in the lens of a camera.

-

Jisung walks next to the road that leads out of the city. He knows he’s nearing the Suburbs and that he should really turn around, but he just can’t ignore that pull towards the unknown. The camera in his hands yearns to capture the nightlife, when the world and its inhabitants show their real colors. The darkness brings out the worst and yet most natural state of human beings and that’s exactly what he wants to put into his art. 

Jisung can tell he’s very close to the edge of the Suburbs because the haunting feeling that he’s in danger becomes almost suffocating. He pulls his hoodie tighter around his shoulders and readjusts his face mask. As he scans his surroundings in search of a worthy subject, he spots a lone figure lounging on an overpass. A cigarette is held loosely between two of his fingers and white smoke is lazily floating from his parted lips. The figure’s head is thrown back as he stares at the starless night sky, his sleek black hair reflecting the neon colors of the city. It’s the perfect shot, so Jisung takes it.

The photographer is enraptured by this boy, wanting to capture more of his relaxed posture and radiating confidence. After little thought, Jisung throws all caution to the wind and hastily climbs up to the top of the overpass. Looking to his right he can see the looming shadows of the Suburbs and tries not to panic from the unexpected closeness. 

Swallowing his nerves, Jisung sneaks up behind the figure so his silhouette is outlined by the glowing city. He moves silently so he can get a good, candid shot, and also to not startle the boy and have him fall. As the boy takes another drag from his cigarette, Jisung finds himself directly behind him, camera poised as wisps of white smoke curl into the night sky.

*Click*

Jisung freezes, knowing there’s no way the other boy didn’t hear it. As the figure slowly turns around, Jisung finds himself hiding behind his camera, refusing to take it down and face the boy.

-

Confusion washes over Changbin’s face for only a split second before it’s replaced with a stoney, cold expression.

“What are you doing?”

The boy hiding behind the camera doesn’t answer but squeaks as he tries to scurry to the left, pulling his hood up to hide his face.

“Wait.”

Changbin reaches out and roughly grabs the other’s bicep, pulling him backwards and trapping him against the rough concrete barrier of the overpass.

“I asked you a question,”

The boy has a black face mask on but Changbin can clearly see his wide eyes shaking slightly in fear.

“What are you doing?”

Changbin practically growls out the words this time and smirks a little to himself when he catches the boy’s eyes widening even more.

“I-I-i,”

“Come on kid, I haven’t got all night,”

“I’m so sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m a, uh, an artist, sir, and you looked very aesthetically pleasing so I wanted to take a picture,”

Changbin feels himself visibly smirk this time at how the bumbling boy addresses him.

“What’s your name,”

“J-Jisung, uh, sir,”

“Well Jisung, don’t you know that it isn’t safe to be out here at night?”

The boy nods his head so quickly that it bounces slightly on the concrete wall behind him.

“Right, so I suggest you delete those pictures and run back to the safety of the city before somebody gets you,”

“D-delete them? B-but...”

“Delete them.”

“Why?”

Changbin blinks. Is this kid actually talking back to him?

“Because I said so.”

He might’ve said it a bit too harsh because the boy pales in the unnatural light and presses himself back against the wall more with a soft ‘ok’. Changbin feels only the tiniest pang of guilt when he sees the boy struggle to hit the buttons on his camera because of how much his hands are shaking.

“T-there, I deleted them,”

He shows Changbin a small screen that has only blank photo slots.

“Can you let me go now?”

Changbin steps back slightly, only realizing after the fact just how close he had been standing to the boy.

-

Jisung takes the opportunity to slip to the side, escaping the man who had trapped him against the wall with his body. He only realizes that he didn’t get his name as he’s running down the side of the road towards the bright city lights. Despite his racing heart, Jisung chuckles a little to himself as he clutches his camera tighter, the photos of the boy still safely saved onto his SD card.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun is slowly creeping towards the horizon, but Jisung thinks he’s got plenty of time to take some shots before heading back to the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to introduce the last main character! What will Jisung think of this new, cute boy?
> 
> TW: v slight blood (like literally a drop)

It’s been a few days since his venture to the edge of the Suburbs, and Jisung is already itching to go back. He’s touched up and printed out the images he’d taken of the boy so he can transfer them into paintings, and every time he looks at them he feels the urge to get more.

The Suburbs house what the city folk call the “scum”, the criminals and lowlifes that have been exiled from the city limits. It’s said to be dirty and extremely dangerous, but Jisung might just be too curious for his own good. He wants to capture the real people behind the title ‘scum’, but has never actually brought himself to cross the boundaries of the city. He had gotten so close that night, and wonders if that bridge had actually been the line.

It’s daytime now so he feels a bit safer as he follows the path of the main road once again, heading towards the shadows of the Suburbs in the distance. It’s a cold day, bordering on freezing so he’s got a winter jacket over his hoodie and thick, fuzzy socks stuffed into his converse. It looks a little strange considering the socks are bright yellow and the jacket is so big it practically drowns him, but at least he’s warm.

Once the overpass is in his sights, Jisung veers left, off the main road. He walks parallel to where he assumes the boundary is, wading through tall, uncut grass and stumbling over disintegrating cinder blocks and cement every couple yards. He stops a few times to snap some pictures; once of a large, shiny beetle hanging out on a broken brick, and once of a still lit cigarette that’s sending up almost transparent wisps of smoke through the grass. He makes sure to fully stomp out the bud afterwards, not wanting the dry grass to catch fire.

He’s been walking for a while, the skyline of the city to his right and the dark outline of the Suburbs to his left. He’s been hoping to run into something interesting and thinks he’s found the jackpot when he stumbles across what seems to be an abandoned railroad track. The sun is slowly creeping towards the horizon but he thinks he’s got plenty of time to take some shots before heading back to the city.

He snaps some pictures on the rusty rails and some perspective shots of the tracks disappearing into the distance before crossing them onto a crumbly, cement platform that he assumes used to be a boarding area. He fiddles with some settings on his camera for a bit, slowly walking forwards but not looking where he is going. Suddenly the ground disappears from underneath him and Jisung finds himself plummeting down for a second before hitting the dusty ground with a small ‘oof’. He thanks himself mentally for wearing such a puffy coat because it seems to have softened his fall.

When he untangles himself and stands up, after frantically checking to see that his camera was okay, he looks around to see where he has fallen. He’s standing on a floor of packed dirt underneath the cement platform, having fallen through a hole he hadn’t noticed. It’s dim down there since the sun is setting, but enough light filters through the holes in the cement that he can see pretty well. He belatedly realizes he’s got a phone so he turns on the flashlight setting to see better. When he points it at the nearest wall he physically takes a step back, shocked. It’s covered from ground to ceiling in vibrant paint. But what shocks Jisung is that it’s not spray paint, it’s traditional, acrylic paint. As he slowly turns around in a circle, taking in the rest of the walls, Jisung can feel his mouth dropping open.

Each surface is covered with paintings, incredibly beautiful paintings. Some have multiple layers of material as if they’ve been painted over a couple of times and some patches of the walls are crumbling, but it just adds to the beauty of the pieces. Jisung can’t help it when he finds himself right in front of one of the large paintings. It’s by far the most beautiful, showing the city skyline with all of its neon colored lights and tall, bright buildings. The vibrant hues look like they are actually glowing off of the dark night background. Jisung reaches out a hand to gingerly stroke the piece, feeling drawn into the scene, but recoils when he touches something warm.

As he draws back his hand, his heart begins to pick up. There’s dark blue paint on his fingers. Fresh, dark blue paint. Someone has just been here. The realization makes Jisung jump and whirl around, now desperate to find a way back up. He only gets a few feet towards the hole he fell through when a figure drops down through it, landing much more gracefully than he had. Jisung fumbles to turn his flashlight off before freezing, absolutely terrified.

He holds his breath as the body moves through the darkness. Jisung can’t tell where he is in the room because the sound of the footsteps are echoing off every wall. Suddenly the space is illuminated with a bright, warm light and Jisung feels like he might puke. There’s a boy standing just feet away, his back turned to him as he hums to himself. The boy doesn’t seem to have noticed Jisung yet as his curly blonde hair bounces ever so slightly while he opens a tool box next to the work lamp he’d turned on.

Jisung can’t move, can’t even try to escape before the boy is turning around, large paintbrush in one hand and messy palette in the other. When their eyes meet the only sound that can be heard is the smack of the wooden paintbrush hitting the ground. Before he can even register it, there’s a deadly looking knife in the boy’s hands and he’s directly in front of Jisung. Somewhere along the way he’d set down the palette and now holds the point of his knife to Jisung’s throat.

The boy’s eyes are dark and hard, staring straight into Jisung’s soul as the latter finds himself only able to open and close his mouth silently like a fish.

“How did you find this place?”

The boy looks strong, muscles defined under the t shirt he is wearing despite the bitter cold. Jisung’s brain is so scrambled at the moment that he doesn’t even register that the other has spoken until the cold tip of the knife presses slightly into his throat. He feels the metal pierce his skin but can only strangle out a pathetic whine in response. The boy’s face hardens more and Jisung is sure he is about to get his throat slit when a second figure drops into the space.

“What the fuck?!”

Jisung tears his gaze from the icy stare of the other and makes brief eye contact with the newcomer, a bead of sweat sliding down his temple despite the cold air. If his life wasn’t in danger he would have probably let out a laugh in that moment. The boy from a couple of nights ago is standing beneath the hole in the ceiling so there’s almost a dull spotlight on him, and his face is contorted into the most shocked and confused expression Jisung’s ever seen. It seems to take a minute for the boy’s brain to catch up before he straightens his shoulders and quickly wipes any emotion from his face.

“Why are you here?”

The boy, wearing the same black hoodie as last time, strides up next the other who’s got a very confused look on his face.

“You know this kid?”

“Yeah, he tried to take pictures of me,”

“Huh?”

For some reason, Jisung’s brain thought that it was a good idea to pick that moment to speak up.

“It was for a painting, uh, sir,”

“Sir?”

The boy before him lets out a snort and gives Jisung an unimpressed look. He, stupidly, nods his head but winces when it only pushes the tip of the knife into his skin more.

“Stand down Chris, he’s just a dumb kid,”

Jisung lets out a sigh of relief as the weapon is lowered but frowns when he feels a bead of blood run down his skin from the small incision. He quickly brings up a sleeve to wipe the drip away and finds that he can’t bring himself to look at either of the boys in front of him, afraid to meet their gazes.

“It’s Jisung right? Or was is Jinsung or something,”

He clears his throat, clutching his camera to try and ground himself because, although there is no longer a knife to his throat, the two seem like they can, and probably will, kill him.

“It’s Jisung, sir,”

“What’s with the sir, are you a servant or something,”

“What- no- I just- uh,”

“Whatever. Like I asked earlier, how did you find this place?”

The blonde, Chris, is standing with his arms crossed as he looks expectantly at Jisung, causing him to shrink a bit in his huge coat.

“Well, I was out here looking for things to uh, take pictures of and I kinda just, fell through the ground and ended up here,”

The dark haired boy grunts at his response, rolling his eyes.

“You really don’t know how to leave well enough alone do you? That camera is going to get you killed,”

Before Jisung could protest and say that his art was more important, Chris spoke up again. 

“Why’d you cross the boundary?”

Jisung splutters. He’d crossed the boundary? He’s in the Suburbs? Oh god.

Chris seems to sense his distress because he chuckles slightly.

“You should get out of here,”

Suddenly the thought of going back to the surface now that he knows he’s crossed the boundary seems less appealing than just staying down here forever. He’s not supposed to be here. And it’s night now. The Suburbs will be active. He’ll surely die.

“I’ll walk you to the boundary, don’t worry kid. Just don’t come here again and don’t ever, ever tell anyone about this place, got it?”

Jisung nods, feeling slightly better knowing that he won’t be out there alone, but it’s not like these guys can’t murder him themselves. He takes one last look at the beautiful walls before following Chris to the hole in the ceiling. He looks up and sees the empty black sky, void of stars as always.

He watches in awe and slight fear as Chris jumps to grab the edge of the cement and hoists himself up using just the brute strength of his arms. The boy pokes his head back into view when Jisung doesn’t follow. There’s no way he can do that, he’s got noodle arms. Chris notices that he isn’t moving so he just sighs and reaches both hands down to him. Jisung is hesitant to grab them but there seems to be no other way. His palms are sweating and his feet scramble to find purchase on the crumbling cement, but somehow Chris manages to pull him to the surface.

As soon as he’s no longer dangling in midair he collapses onto the ground, slightly out of breath and very much afraid. His wide eyes dart around in the darkness, searching for predatory figures or loaded weapons pointed at him. He jumps about a foot into the air when he sees a flash of metal, but lets out a shaky breath when he realizes that it’s just Chris’ knife. The boy silently motions for him to follow so he rushes to stand up from the ground.

“Nice socks kid,”

Chris whispers it into the tense air and Jisung blushes, looking down to see his bright yellow fuzzy socks stand out like a beacon in the darkness.

Jisung stays close to Chris as they walk through the grass, almost too close because they keep bumping into each other. The air around them is slightly awkward but Chris seems to have a chill presence the puts Jisung at ease, at least when he isn’t poised to kill him.

Once they get close enough to the main road that Jisung is pretty sure it’s safe to speak, he somehow scrapes together enough courage to ask some pressing questions of the boy.

“So, your name is Chris right?”

The boy hums in response.

“What about the other guy, he knows my name but I never got his,”

“Oh, that’s Changbin,”

Changbin. He can finally stop referring to him as ‘the dark boy’ in his head. Maybe that’ll even be the title of his pieces when he’s done painting them.

“Why, do you think he’s cute or something?”

Jisung sputters and quickly changes the subject.

“Did you paint those scenes down there?”

Chris abruptly stops walking and Jisung slams into his back.

“Let’s not talk about those ever again,”

He says it with a voice of finality that has Jisung insanely curious.

“Why, they’re so beautiful,”

“Forget it.”

After Chris begins walking again they are plunged into a frigid silence that causes Jisung to pull his coat closer around him. He tries to think of anything that could break the tense atmosphere. Chris doesn’t seem like a bad guy, despite the weapon still clenched in his hand, he’s quite intriguing actually.

“Why do you have a knife?”

Chris scoffs at that but relaxes a bit.

“I live in the Suburbs Jisung, everyone has a knife,”

“Oh,”

Then it hits Jisung.

“Hold on, didn’t we cross the boundary already? Isn’t that illegal? Oh god are we gonna get arrested?!”

Just as Jisung begins to breath faster, not wanting to go to jail this young, Chris full out laughs. The breathy, joyful sound causes Jisung to freeze in his tracks. He looked over at Chris in that moment, but that wasn’t the best timing because he was met with a faceful of crinkled, smiling eyes and cute dimples. Suddenly the scary boy from before turned into the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. The breath catches in his throat as Chris turns around, confused as to why he stopped. Jisung can feel the blush rise to his cheeks so he starts walking again, pulling his hood over his head and pretending to be cold. Chris seems to brush off the odd behavior as he answers.

“I chose to live there, I wasn’t exiled so I can come and go from the city whenever,”

Jisung just nods, too flustered to question why anyone would ever willingly choose to live in the Suburbs. They are at the edge of the road now and Chris turns to him.

“I’ll leave you here, you should be fine to walk by yourself but keep an eye out, okay?”

As Chris turns to head back the way they came, Jisung is suddenly seized with the urge to keep the boy around. In a moment of slight panic, he reaches his hand out and grabs Chris’ arm. He’s stuck for a moment as he feels the lean muscles under his touch before he jerks his hand away as if he’s touched a stove. Chris is looking at him with an amused expression, one eyebrow raised at the action.

“Sorry I uh, do you have a phone?”

That was a dumb question.

“I do,”

Chris speaks slowly as if he’s talking to a child, but suppressed amusement laces his voice.

“Can I have- do you want my- can I- could we exchange numbers?”

It takes him an embarrassingly long time to get out the question and he’s sure his face is tomato red as he squeezes his camera for mental support. Chris laughs again and Jisung thinks he’s about to have a heart attack. 

“Are you sure? I did almost kill you earlier…”

Jisung nods quickly, having dismissed the earlier aggression in favor of his beautiful smile. The blonde boy pulls out an old, janky phone and Jisung shakily types his number into a new contact slot. He hands the phone back and Chris shoots him a quick text so he’s got his number as well. 

It’s silent for a bit so Jisung takes that as his cue to leave but just as he’s turning, Chris speaks up again.

“Be careful with that, I mean, contacting me. I do still live in the Suburbs so, don’t go around telling people you’ve met me, I’m not someone you want to be caught with. Don’t come here either, yeah? It isn’t safe, but we can still text if you want to talk to me for whatever reason,”

It makes him sad but Jisung understands. It’s a long shot to think he can get close to someone who lives in the Suburbs, since they exist in practically two separate worlds.

“By the way, sorry for almost slitting your throat, it was instinct but you seem cool so, I’m glad I didn’t kill you I guess,”

Jisung’s cheeks heat up as he nods his head. 

They finally part with a last goodbye, Chris disappearing into the dark night as Jisung heads towards the bright lights of the city. He’s reminded of the beautiful painting of this very scene and thinks about how the delicate strokes of paint had been produced by the same hand that wields a knife expertly. He reaches up to rub against the small scab now forming on his throat and catches sight of a dark spot on his skin. He lifts his hand to his face and sees dark blue paint dried onto his fingertips, small whispers of Chris’ painting, and he smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: what do you have?  
Chris: a knife!  
Me: NO  
Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you liked this chapter and come back next Sunday for more!  
<333


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung feels like he’s going to be sick, his brain finally starting to wake up as panic seizes his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’m a little late with posting this! I’m in a different time zone and completely forgot :(
> 
> TW: violence, guns, blood, attempted rape and abduction
> 
> This one’s a doozy but not horrible I hope
> 
> Enjoy <3

Jisung is not having a good day. It’s been a week since he met Chris and saw the dark boy- Changbin again. After the meeting, he had had more motivation to finish a painting than he’s ever had in his life so he’s almost done. He’s chosen to work on the picture he took from afar first, doing it in increments as he has time after work and in the early hours of the morning when he can’t sleep.

Today is supposed to be his day off, it’s a Sunday for fucks sake, but just as he’s mixing up some pigments on his palette, the phone rings. He crosses his studio, it’s really just his apartment living room but no one needs to know, and grabs his phone from the counter.

“Hey Han, I know it’s early but we just got a big shipment of stuff so I need you to come in and help me put it on the shelves,”

Jisung has to take a deep breath before he answers, in fear that he might yell at his boss to fuck off.

“Yes sir. I’ll be right there,”

As soon as Jisung hangs up he throws his phone at the couch, watching it bounce off the cushions dangerously high before landing on the plush carpet with a soft thump. He groans and puts his face in his hands in exasperation before realizing he’s just smeared paint all over his cheeks. He stomps to the bathroom to wash off his face angrily and throws on some more appropriate work clothes.

As he exits his apartment building he takes a glance to his left. He lives on the very edge of where the city buildings stop so he can see the dark mass of the Suburbs from across the huge field that separates them. He briefly wonders what Chris and Changbin are doing before he trudges along to the bus stop. There are heavy, gloomy clouds blanketing the sky today and just as the bus stop comes within view of Jisung, it starts raining. He curses as he sprints the rest of the way towards the covered stop bench where he shakes out his wet hair like a dog.

The bus ride is uneventful but he fumes the whole way, aggravated with everything as his day turns from bad to worse. When he arrives at the art store he works in, he is thoroughly drenched but plasters a smile onto his face as his boss greets him. The shop is closed today so at least they won’t have to be shelving around customers.

It’s mind numbing work to sort through hundreds of packages of the same thing and then place it all neat on the shelf, and time just seems to be dragging for Jisung. It takes forever for the clock to finally hit 8 pm and his boss has to let him leave per company rules. The one good thing about working in inventory for hours on end is that it’s easy to accidentally misplace some supplies. Jisung smiles proudly to himself and clutches the new paint brushes and acrylic tubes hidden in his jacket as he walks out the door. He doesn’t even feel slightly bad about it.

The rain has let up but the evening is dimmed by the oppressive clouds that still hang overhead. Jisung is exhausted as he drags his feet all the way to the bus stop. When he gets off near his apartment all he can think about is his soft bed and how nice it will be to pass out on it. As he’s nearing the building his brain numbly registers a sound from behind him but he doesn’t have the energy to turn around.

He’s so tired that it’s not until he’s shoved against a brick wall that he notices that he’s been pulled into an alleyway. His eyes widen as he’s met with an ugly sneer on the face of his attacker. There are 5 men surrounding him, all older and stronger than he is, and they are all staring at him. His sleep deprived brain decides that he doesn’t like how the man is roughly holding his shoulders so he pushes back. Somehow his noodle arms actually get the guy to take a step back but soon the others are closing in.

“That bastard pushed me!”

“He’s a cute one, not gonna lie,”

“You think boss’ll like him?”

“Oh yeah, he likes the small helpless ones best,”

Jisung feels like he’s going to be sick, his brain finally starting to wake up as panic seizes his body. One of the other men grabs his coat and rips it off of his shoulders, art supplies scattering onto the ground. When he feels more hands on his body he starts to flail his limbs around in an attempt to get them off of him. A hand briefly touches the skin of his stomach as it works its way up his shirt and he’s suddenly screaming, thrashing around and hoping that somebody, anybody, will hear him and save him.

Just as he’s about to lose hope he hears a shout.

“Jisung, duck!”

Instinctively, he pulls his legs out from underneath himself and drops to the hard ground, slipping out of their grasp. The gunshots that follow ring in his ears even after the echo has stopped bouncing off of the alley walls. He opens his eyes from where he had clenched them shut and finds all 5 men laying on the ground, completely still with matching holes directly through their skulls. There’s blood everywhere.

Jisung can’t move, he can’t think, all he can do is blink as he stares at the dead bodies in front of him. He barely registers the hand gently shaking his shoulders until a face pushes into his field of vision.

Chris.

The blonde boy is dressed in all black, blending into the dim twilight, his eyes filled with worry.

“Are you okay?”

Jisung can’t form coherent sentences, especially not when he looks past Chris and catches sight of another figure. Changbin is standing a few feet away dressed similarly to Chris, but he’s gripping a pistol. Jisung’s eyes widen and Chris turns around to follow his gaze.

“Jesus Changbin, put that thing away already,”

The boy slips the gun into a hostler on his waist, a mixture of emotions swirling in the usually stoic boy’s eyes.

“Why does it have to be you...”

Changbin whispers it but Jisung can hear it as plain as day. The boy shakes his head and Jisung swears he sees tears in his eyes before he busies himself with straightening his gear. When Chris turns back to face Jisung there are most definitely tears in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry this had to happen to you Jisung. I’m so sorry you got tangled up in all of this,”

“Fuck Chris, we can’t just take him back. We can’t,”

“Well we aren’t going to just leave him here like this, plus do you know what will happen to all of us if we don’t?”

“But they’ll- they’ll...”

Jisung’s brain can’t decipher what the boys are saying to each other anymore but he can feel the panic in both of their voices. He feels his eyelids drooping, the fear finally just shutting his body down.

“Fine. Get his keys,”

The last thing Jisung sees is Chris’ worried eyes paired with a kind smile as the boy bends down to scoop him up into his arms bridal-style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big oof  
That’s all I have to say about this one. Leave a comment if you liked it or if you hated it  
Come back tomorrow for more!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung timidly takes the medicine, shifting uncomfortably at the strange atmosphere that has fallen over them. After a couple beats of awkward silence, Jisung figures he should take the opportunity to try to get some answers from the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this timezone difference is fucking me up, sorry  
I hope you enjoy this chapter!!! Sorry if it's a little disjointed or all over the place, I didn't read over it much :0
> 
> TW: flashbacks of last chapter, so I guess the same apply here but less so

Jisung wakes up with a screaming headache. He’s in his bed but everything feels off. He briefly wonders if he somehow managed to get wasted last night and just passed out because he’s still in his work clothes. His limbs are stiff so he sits up and stretches them out before swinging his long legs over the edge of the bed. As soon as Jisung stands up, his legs crumple and he slams into the floor, groaning as his headache gets worse.

He suddenly hears shuffling from behind his bedroom door and his heart rate picks up. He doesn’t think he’s in any kind of condition to fight off intruders, but he grabs the nearest weapon just in case. Said weapon happens to be an empty Pringle container but it’ll do.

The handle on his door turns slowly and is opened. Jisung just stays on the floor, eyes wide, heart pounding, and small hands gripping the Pringle can tightly. Suddenly his face is scrunching in confusion because there are two boys peeking cautiously into his doorway, but he knows those two boys.

“What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?!”

He doesn’t mean it as a threat, he’s just really fucking confused. Chris walks into his bedroom timidly and sits on his bed, looking down at Jisung awkwardly because he’s still on the carpet. Changbin stays in the doorway, not looking at them as he fiddles with his fingers.

“Uhh, how are you feeling kid?”

“Just peachy, I have a headache so bad I can’t stand and there’s two strangers in my house,”

He hopes to get a proper response to his question but Chris just sighs.

“Sorry for startling you, we had to get you somewhere safe and your apartment was like, right there so we used your keys to get in. You’re really light by the way, carried you up all six flights of stairs and didn’t even break a sweat,”

Chris laughs nervously, clearly trying to distract Jisung and change the subject. The younger would’ve probably blushed at the sound had he not been so perplexed.

“Carry me? Why’d you...”

Oh.

It all comes flooding back. The hands, the ugly sneer, the screaming, the gunshots, the _blood_. Jisung feels the breath get knocked out of his lungs as he see flashes of last night and he suddenly feels sick. Without warning he shoots up from the floor and pushes past Changbin even though his vision is swimming and he’s barely keeping himself upright. He makes it to the bathroom just in time to empty his stomach into the toilet. He hears quick footsteps behind him and soon there’s a soothing hand rubbing circles into his back.

When there’s nothing left to puke up, he slumps onto the bathroom floor, panting with slight tear tracks running down his cheeks. He’s surprised to find Changbin is the one comforting him, while Chris just stands in the hall looking nervous.

“You killed them.”

Jisung finds his mouth saying the words before his brain can prevent it.

“I’m sorry,”

Changbin has such a deep sorrow in his eyes that it makes Jisung’s heart hurt. It’s odd to be finally seeing emotion on the cold boy’s face, but his hands are warm and he looks so genuine that Jisung questions if it’s the same boy that shoved him against the cement barrier earlier.

“It’s okay, I mean you saved me so, thank you,”

“God I wish I didn’t have to. Everything’s fucked now,”

“What do you mean?”

He vaguely remembers the snippets of conversation he had heard between the two boys last night and dozens of questions flood his brain. Instead of answering, Changbin just hands him a cool, damp rag that Jisung wipes his face with before throwing into the bathtub to wash later. The boy offers him a hand and hauls him up off the floor, steadying him when he tips forward dangerously.

They make it to the couch somehow, dodging the scattered canvases and paint supplies taking up his living room. Chris hands him a glass of water and he takes it shakily.

“I didn’t want to dig through your medicine while you were sleeping but I’m sure you could use some Advil,”

“Yeah, it’s in the bathroom cabinet next to the mirror,”

As Chris heads off in search of the pills Changbin slides onto the couch next to him.

“I see you kept the pictures of me,”

Jisung glances at his nearly finished painting across the room and feels the sudden urge to cover it up.

“Uh yeah, sorry, they were too pretty to delete,”

“It’s fine. You’re a really talented painter,”

Jisung hums in appreciation and feels his cheeks heat up at the compliment. Changbin suddenly gives a big sigh from next to him, and when he glances over, Jisung sees that sadness swimming in his dark eyes again.

“I really am sorry, about those guys”

“You don’t need to keep apologizing Changbin, it sucks that it happened but I’m glad you saved me. It’s all in the past now so let’s just forget it ok?”

Changbin looks a bit taken aback, but he lets out a strained laugh as he casts his gaze to the carpet. Jisung is also a little shocked with himself at the outburst, but he doesn’t have any time to backpedal.

“It’s not that simple kid. I can’t-“

The black haired boy abruptly stops speaking when Chris suddenly comes back into the room with a pill bottle. Jisung timidly takes the medicine, shifting uncomfortably at the strange atmosphere that has fallen over them. After a couple beats of awkward silence, Jisung figures he should take the opportunity to try to get some answers from the two.

“So, uh, why were you guys in the city last night in the first place?”

The two boys share a glance that is dominated by a pleading look from Changbin and a hard glare from Chris that clearly says ‘no’ to whatever question was being asked.

“We were just crossing the boundary briefly to get some supplies and heard somebody screaming,”

Chris answers, his voice is steady but he doesn’t look Jisung in the eye as he says it.

“So, why did Changbin have a gun?”

“Just in case,”

It all seems too fishy and they clearly aren’t telling the truth, but it’s not like Jisung could force anything out of either of them. They are both armed and he is about as strong as a jellyfish. It seems so strange to Jisung, Chris had been so easy going when they first met, why was he so guarded now? What did Changbin try to say earlier? What did they need to hide from him so badly?

Jisung doesn’t get to ask any of his questions before an embarrassingly loud stomach grumble sounds from next to him. He glances over at Changbin who is looking away, face red, as if he’s trying to deny it was him. Jisung can’t help but let out a small chuckle and Chris’ tense shoulders even relax a little.

“I’ve got some cereal in the pantry if you’d like,”

Changbin shyly nods his head as he stands and quickly ducks into the kitchen in search of food. Jisung is slightly relieved that the tense atmosphere is broken, but he’s still skeptical about the two boys.

“You painted this?”

Chris’ voice startles Jisung out of his thoughts and he turns to find the boy in front of the almost finished piece of Changbin’s silhouette. The canvas is perched on a messy easel by a large window that takes up one of the living room walls. Jisung has the curtains drawn because he doesn’t like the thought that people can see him while he works, so only a small sliver of sunlight actually reaches the room. He watches as Chris studies his painting, and it’s making him nervous for some reason.

“This is really good, kid. You’ve got talent,”

The praise makes his heart skip a beat with joy as the blonde throws him a small smile. He wants to compliment the other on his work as well, but suddenly remembers that mentioning his paintings hadn’t gone over well the first time. Chris makes his way over to the couch and Jisung can feel his cheeks heating up when the boy sits down right next to him.

“You aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?”

Jisung feels his chest swell when he hears the warmth in Chris’ voice. It’s a strange contrast from the prior seriousness, but it’s a welcomed change. Although he doesn’t know the boy at all, he much prefers the relaxed Chris to the rigid, boss-like Chris.

“I’m alright, my head just hurts like a bitch and I’m pretty dizzy, but they didn’t hurt me,”

He suddenly feels the phantom touch of unwelcome fingers on his lower stomach and cringes, fingernails digging into his palms as he wills the sensation away. Chris sees the abrupt tenseness because he grabs Jisung’s hands in his own and doesn’t let go until they are relaxed again. If the situation wasn’t so horrid, Jisung would have blushed at the thought of Chris holding his hands.

“I’m so sorry you were brought into this,”

“Stop saying sorry if you aren’t going to tell me what _this_ is,”

He’s surprised as he hears himself snap at the boy and quickly backpedals when he sees the shock on his face.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that, I’m sure you have your reasons for not telling me,”

“I- uh, no it’s, it’s okay, I get that you want to know but, well, Changbin and I are connected to some, bad people, and we- we have to do some things that aren’t always good, and we have to deal with people who also don’t do good things, and, it’s a whole big complicated shitstorm that we’re trapped in basically,”

It’s the first time Jisung has seen Chris struggle to say something and he’s shocked to see the confident boy so uneasy. He doesn’t get a full answer but at least he’s got some semblance of the bigger picture now.

“I’m sorry kid, I don’t think I can tell you much more,”

Jisung just nods, accepting that he won’t be getting anything else out of him. After a bit, Changbin walks back into the room with a bowl of sugary cereal and a pleased look on his face.

“Where’d the scary boy I first saw on the overpass go? Who is this imposter?”

Changbin freezes mid stride as surprise washes over his face at being addressed like that.

“Where’d the terrified child that called us sir go? Huh?”

“Touché,”

Chris struggles to keep in a snort at their exchange and they fall into a somewhat comfortable silence broken only by the periodic clink of the spoon against the bowl as Changbin eats.

“Soo, you won’t tell me what’s happening, but... what now?”

Changbin shoots a nervous glance at Chris who looks just as unsure back. Jisung swears they can telepathically communicate at this point.

“Well, we haven’t really figured that out yet,”

“Huh?”

“Per our, uh, instructions, we were supposed to take the, person, which turned out to be you, back into the Suburbs with us but we, uh, didn’t so now we’ll be in big trouble if we go back,”

Changbin offers the vague answer this time, fidgeting with his spoon.

“Why don’t you just stay in the city then?”

When he says this Changbin shifts awkwardly on his feet and he casts his gaze to the ground.

“Changbin, uh, didn’t choose to live in the Suburbs like I did, so, it’s kinda illegal for him to be here,”

Jisung throws his eyebrow up in surprise. He wouldn’t doubt that the scary Changbin he first met would’ve committed an atrocious crime, but not the one currently toeing at his living room carpet. That is until he remembers the loud bang of the gunshots and the pistol the boy had gripped as he stood next to those dead bodies.

“What if you aren’t caught though? You could, uhhh stay here in my apartment,”

He realizes that he’s just invited two practical strangers with at least a gun and a knife to stay in his apartment, one that is much too small for the three of them, but he tries to ignore that fact.

“No, we can’t do that, they’ll just find us sooner or later and you can’t have any more connection with us than you already do,”

“What makes you guys so dangerous in the first place? I can handle myself,”

Chris looks stressed as he tries to come up with an answer.

“We have... ties,”

“Oh wow, thanks for the enlightenment,”

“I wish we could tell you more kid, I really do, but it’s just not safe, for either of us,”

Jisung nods but he feels dejected. He sees Chris glance at the clock on the wall and watches as his shoulders tense again.

“I guess our only option is to head back and hope the punishment is light. If you’re feeling well enough to stand on your own, I think we should start heading back now. The boss is usually more lenient in the daytime,”

Boss.

_“You think boss’ll like him?”_

Jisung gets the sneaking suspicion he might have members of some sort of mafia in his house and the thought makes his nerves jump. It would make sense; why they were in the city with weapons, why they had orders to bring him back, why they couldn’t tell him anything. It didn’t make him feel any better though.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,”

He doesn’t want them to leave and he’s suddenly getting nervous _for_ them as they seem reluctant as well. Changbin sets his now empty bowl in the kitchen sink and the two hesitantly head for the door. Jisung gets up to see them off, something sad pulling in his chest.

“Well, it’s been nice talking with you kid, sorry we aren’t the right type of people to stick around. You really are talented so, keep up the good work. You’ve got my number so you can contact me if you’d like but, do so with caution I guess, and I might not always be able to respond,”

Chris gives him a strained smile that doesn’t make it to his eyes and suddenly Jisung just wants to see the boy genuinely happy again, dimple and all. Next, Changbin turns to him, eyes downcast as he fiddles with his fingers.

“Sorry for threatening you earlier and, I’m glad you kept those pictures because the painting is really beautiful. Sorry we can’t tell you much either, but maybe you’ll learn more about all this someday, I hope not. It was nice to meet you Jisung, hopefully we won’t meet again in such bad circumstances,”

Jisung doesn’t know if they’ll meet again at all, but he gives a reassuring smile to Changbin as the boy nervously messes with the strap of his pistol holster. Even if they are a part of some evil mafia, they really don't seem like bad guys. He wish he knew more so maybe he could help them, but it seems like there isn't anything that he can do.

The two boys open the door and head into the hallway, towards an unknown punishment that makes Jisung feel horribly guilty. Chris turns back when they near the door to the stairs and gives him a little wave. Jisung will miss that cute face and perpetually messy hair. He sees Changbin throw him a quick smile too and he can feel his heart throb with sadness and anxiety.

“Bye Jisung,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks so much for reading!!  
Just curious, is this posting schedule strange? Should I change it so it's more convenient for everybody? let me know in the comments please!
> 
> Come back next week for more! <3333


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris gives him a quick peck on the cheek and he can’t help but let out a quiet gasp. In the next second, the blonde boy darts across the grass, disappearing into the shadowy Suburbs with his knife clenched in his grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao I finally figured out how to do italics and bold, so I'll be going back and fixing some of the weird italics I did in the prior chapters :)  
This chapter skips around perspectives a couple times so they will be separated with a -  
anyways this is a little early but whtvr 
> 
> also HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANGBIN <333
> 
> TW: mild non-descriptive violence, vv light mentions of trauma, kidnapping

“What do you think will happen when we get back?”

Chris and Changbin are currently stowed away in the bed of some pickup truck heading out of the city. It’s a bumpy ride but it’s safer than walking through that big empty field, especially when Changbin isn’t supposed to even be out here.

“I don’t know. We broke the rules and didn’t finish the mission so, I don’t think it’ll just be a warning this time,”

Changbin nods, he knows that it won’t be good but he can at least hope. He hears Chris sigh next to him and figures that the older is starting to stress.

“Why’d you let your guard down with Jisung? It’s not like you to act like that around strangers, it’s risky Bin,”

The question surprises Changbin and he has to think about it for a minute.

“I guess, I didn’t want him to hurt anymore than he was, and I thought he’d feel better if I didn’t act like a piece of rock and actually spoke to him. I don’t know, he just reminds me of a younger brother, like I need to protect him. I don’t know how well that worked out though,”

Changbin lets out a deep sigh as something heavy settles in his gut.

“I can’t believe we had to get him pulled into our mess. I feel even worse for not even telling him about the hell that’s gonna rain down on him sooner or later. God, I hope they don’t find him too quickly, he’s a good kid,”

He can feel the tears building up behind his eyes and has to focus all his energy on willing them away. He can’t cry now, he’s spent too long building up a wall and won’t let some kid be the reason that it falls. Chris is the only one he’s ever allowed himself to be completely genuine around, and even that is incredibly dangerous. 

“I get it. I don’t want anything to happen to him, but I can’t just let you suffer either. Even if we risked our lives to save him, you’re still my top priority Bin,”

“Chan… you’ve gotta take care of yourself too you know,”

Changbin sighs as he watches Chris pull out his knife and fidget with the blade like he always does when he’s anxious. 

“So, how do we plan on not getting killed instantly once we cross back?”

“Well... we can’t go back to the house so we’ll just hide out as long as we can, okay? And try to forget about Jisung, we can’t do anything to help him now, we just need to worry about causing as little damage as possible for the time being,”

After Chris throws him a strained smile of reassurance, a tense silence falls over them for a bit. Changbin can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising so he knows they must be getting close to the boundary. Chris is shifting uneasily at his side so he knows the other can feel it too.

They exchange a glance as they pass under the bridge boundary before they both jump from the moving truck, rolling in the grass beside the road to soften the fall. They quickly right themselves and duck into a small cut out in the side of the bridge, breathing heavily and squished in face to face.

“It’s just the two of us now. We’ll have to split up so it’s harder for them to find us both. Meet up at the tracks in one week. Keep your guard up Bin, and please don’t get killed,”

Chris gives him a quick peck on the cheek and Changbin can’t help but let out a quiet gasp. In the next second, the blonde boy darts across the grass, disappearing into the shadowy Suburbs with his knife clenched in his grip. Changbin stays still for a bit, catching his breath and mentally preparing for what’s to come.

-

It’s been 6 days and, quite frankly, Changbin didn’t expect to last even that long. He’s done a pretty good job at keeping low, sleeping in sketchy inns with one eye open and stealing food from dirty street vendors. He’s convinced that the only reason he’s still walking is because of the small kiss that still burns on his cheek and keeps his heart warm during the cold nights. The thought of it almost lets him forget about everything that’s happening, forget about the boy’s life they put in jeopardy while trying to save him. 

He’s leaning against the side of a building in a pretty calm alleyway, smoking a cigarette, when he hears their footsteps approach. He doesn’t even have time to put out his light before a heavy object is colliding with his temple and he’s out before he hits the ground.

-

Jisung wakes up to a gloomy sky for the 6th day in a row. It’s like the weather knows how down he feels. He’s annoyed with himself for feeling lonely even though he’s spoken to Chris and Changbin only a couple of times, and there was no way they’d stay for long anyways. He supposes their presence felt like when he actually had friends, and now that they’re gone he is reminded of how alone he really is. It doesn’t help that he’s reluctant to go outside for anything other than work, afraid that there will be no one to save him if he gets into trouble again. There’s also that ghost of a feeling on his skin, taunting him and making his rub at his stomach and arms unmercilessly. 

He’s even lost motivation to paint. His first piece is finished, but the second of the close up of Changbin still sits in its early stages in his living room. He can’t help but remember Chris’ paintings and wonder if the boy is even still alive to work on them. He finds that Chris is in his thoughts a lot actually, that perfect smile and easygoing aura seemingly imprinted in Jisung’s brain. He can’t believe that he’s allowing himself to develop feelings again, especially after everything that happened last time, but he finds that he can’t stop himself. He shakes the thoughts out of his brain before he starts remembering things that he doesn’t want to. 

Jisung lays in bed for a few more minutes before he has to get up and go to work. It’s chilly today so he savors the warmth of his blankets for as long as he can. He makes sure to put on his winter coat as he heads out the door and eyes his fuzzy yellow socks before pulling them on too.

_ "Nice socks kid,” _

The walk to the bus stop is cold and Jisung finds himself shivering as he waits on the bench. He mentally kicks himself when he jumps at an older man innocently sitting down next to him. He supposes he’s become a bit paranoid now, he even bought himself a little bottle of pepper spray that he keeps on his keychain.

Jisung sighs about a hundred times during the bus ride but he just can’t bring himself to think positively today. He can only imagine what Chris and Changbin are doing now, if they’re suffering punishment or if they’re dead. He’s heard of how horrid the Suburbs are, and by the sound of it, the two boys are kept under an exceptionally tight reign. He’s so lost in his thoughts that he almost misses his stop.

Its nearing the end of his shift when he hears his phone ping from the back room. He glances around and sees that his boss is busy sorting through some shelves so he slips behind the desk and grabs his phone from his bag.

**Chris :)**

-Hey Jisung 

His heart jumps in his chest and he can feel color rise to his cheeks as he rushes to type out a quick reply. He can’t believe that something good is actually happening today, and hearing from the boy after 6 days of silence is definitely a good thing. 

**Sungie**

-Hi Chris!

-How are you?

**Chris :)**

-Can you do something for me

Jisung blinks at the strange response but feels so elated that Chris is actually talking to him that he doesn’t care.

**Sungie**

-Sure, what do you need?

**Chris :)**

-I need you to buy me some paint brushes

-We can meet tonight at the overpass near the boundary

Jisung feels nervous about going so close to the Suburbs at night again, but he definitely wants to see Chris. At least the texting, however awkward it is, means that he’s still breathing. 

**Sungie**

-Sure thing

As soon as he gets off work he goes and grabs an assortment of brushes off the shelf since Chris didn’t clarify what kind. He pays for them and practically skips back to his apartment so he can kill some time. 

Feeling better than he has in days, knowing that Chris is okay, Jisung picks up his paints again and adds to his piece until it’s dark outside. When he gets to a good stopping point, he snaps a quick picture of both paintings with his phone to show Chris his progress. He makes sure to grab his camera as well in case something interesting shows itself; maybe he can paint Chris at some point too. He smiles at the thought and throws a puffy jacket over his hoodie before shoving his messy hair into a knitted hat. He wonders if Changbin will be there too, those two boys always seem to be together for some reason, and finds himself hoping that he is. He puts the paintbrushes that he bought into a plastic grocery bag, throwing in an extra flashlight in case his phone dies, and heads out the door with a skip in his step.

He takes his bike this time to make the journey to the boundary quicker, strapping his camera safely around his neck and zipping his jacket up over it for good measure. He fashions the grocery bag so it’s around his arm but resting up by his shoulder, it puts him a little off balance but it’s secure. He shoots Chris a quick text and he’s on his way, riding alongside the cars zipping out of town.

**Sungie**

-I’m on my way :)

As he nears the bridge he feels the telltale tingling on the back of his neck but pushes the nerves down. He lays his bike down a little way off to the side of the road so it doesn’t get hit and climbs to the top of the overpass. There’s no one on the bridge yet and only a few cars pass by as he waits. He briefly wonders if Chris has a car, but kind of doubts it since he lives in the Suburbs. 

It’s been a few minutes with no one coming, so Jisung hops up to sit on the cement barrier, reminiscing about how he first met Changbin here, the boy seemed like a totally different person then. He swings the grocery bag and fiddles with his camera as he hums quietly to himself, trying to keep his excitement down and his anxiety at bay. When Jisung finally sees a figure approaching, he hops off the ledge and lets out a sigh of relief.

“Hey Chris, I’ve got the brushes. I just picked out some-“

He cuts off quickly when the figure steps into the circle of light cast by a nearby street lamp and Jisung sees that it’s definitely not Chris. He grips the small bottle of pepper spray on his keychain but doesn’t move yet as the man nears him, not wanting to hurt an innocent nightwalker on accident.

He realizes that he should have been less courteous when the man pulls out a gun and points it directly at Jisung’s chest.

“If you don’t want your precious boyfriend to get hurt, I suggest you come with me,”

Jisung is falling before he can even take a step forward. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Changbin got a little kiss for his birthday ;) (which was totally unplanned but it worked out so).  
I liked this chapter better than the last one, but I have to say, the next one is my favorite so far so come back tomorrow to read it ;)
> 
> Leave a comment if you liked this chapter!  
<33333


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s dark when he wakes up. He’s not sure how much time has passed but his head hurts like crazy. He can feel rough fibers digging into his skin and realizes he’s been tied to a chair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gettin angsty up in here
> 
> TW: verbal abuse, kidnapping, slight violence

It’s dark when he wakes up. He’s not sure how much time has passed but his head hurts like crazy. He can feel rough fibers digging into his skin and realizes he’s been tied to a chair.

_ How cliche _

If his life wasn’t in danger he would have found the situation comical, but the circulation is threatening to be cut off from his hands and his vision is still blurry from the impact to his head. In the near pitch black darkness he can just make out the edges of the small room he’s in, and it sounds like he’s alone. 

He sits there for a long time, making himself busy with trying to undo the knots around his wrists, but to no avail. Suddenly the room is illuminated with a harsh light and the door swings open. He has to blink a few times before his eyes adjust to the change and he finds himself faced with a tall woman known to them only as Boss.

“Chan. I’m quite disappointed in you,”

He grits his teeth together as he bites back a retort, fingers itching to grab the handle of the knife he knows is no longer on his body.

“You’ve been one of the more diligent members of this society and I expected more from you. It was just a simple run-in job too. Pity,”

They call it a ‘society’ but it’s more like a strategic gang circle that goes around acting as not-quite-ethical vigilantes. The mission was supposed to be simple but Chris and Changbin didn’t go through with it, and the Boss definitely isn’t known for her kindness when things don’t go her way.

“What was it that made you disobey your instructions, hm? Was it that boy? Ji-something?”

“Jisung,”

Chris’ voice is gravely as he growls out the name, keeping steady eye contact with the Boss to show that he’s not about to break anytime soon. 

“Didn’t want anything to happen to the poor kid? He was quite the cutie, I get what you see in him, but was he really worth risking your job for?”

Chris doesn’t answer but keeps his gaze steady. The woman clearly doesn’t like this because she approaches him with quick strides. The slap to his face stings even more due to the amount of rings decorating the Boss’ thin fingers. 

“I asked you a question,”

She grabs his hair and roughly yanks his head back so she can growl directly into his face.

“Was the bitch worth it?”

Chris pushes against his confines as he tries to lunge at the woman, but he just ends up digging the rope deeper into his skin. He feels the anger bubble up inside him so much that he thinks he might be sick. 

“He’s not a bitch and I wouldn’t bring him back to this hellhole in a million years. I know what you do to those people we’ve so called saved. I’ve seen you destroy innocent people’s lives with debts they’ll never be able to pay off and there’s no way I’d make Jisung or anyone else go through that ever again,”

The woman seems unaffected by Chris’ harsh words or struggling and simply takes a step back, meeting his blazing eyes with a striking coldness.

“You’ve become soft, Chan. No one can survive in this world without being toughened up by real life. We help people but we aren’t a charity, got it? Everyone has to pay, that’s life. Wake up from your fantasy and don’t come crying to me when you get crushed under the weight of reality,”

Chris snarls at the woman’s back as she strides out the door. Once he’s alone in the room again, the lights shut off and he’s plunged into darkness, still seething with anger.

-

When the room is illuminated again a while later, he sets his face and steels his nerves to meet with the Boss again. The woman enters the room with a haughtiness that makes Chris loath her even more. There’s an evil smirk on her face that makes him grimace as he mentally prepares himself for the punishment that’s bound to come. 

But nothing can lessen the shock and absolute horror that engulfs him when a small, battered body is thrown to the floor at his feet. 

“Jisung...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for hurting the babes, but now we get into more plot stuff!  
I'm going to post the next chapter as well rn because this one is short and I want to sooo, keep reading :))
> 
> Thanks so much for reading this story!!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung’s warm eyes meet Chris’ and he has to bite back tears as the smaller boy tries to give him a strained smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is heavy but it gives some more important insight into Chris and Changbin's lives!  
<3333
> 
> TW: violence, torture (just at the end of the chap, not expounded upon), blood, evil woman I hate her >:(

Chris’ eyes widen in terror as a guard gives Jisung a quick kick to the stomach, sending the boy into a hacking fit. He can only struggle against the ropes holding him down and shout in vain as they roughly tie Jisung up. They secure his wrists behind him and force his knees up to his chest before wrapping the rope around him so he’s trapped in a ball like position on the floor in front of Chris.

The anger is boiling in his veins and his struggling has caused the rope around his wrists to cut into his skin, but Chris can’t find it in himself to care anymore. He finds himself glaring at the Boss as if challenging her. 

“This is what happens to bad boys Chan. The world will fall apart if we don’t have balance. Help requires payment, treason requires punishment, it’s only fair,”

“Bullshit! You’re just a selfish fucking masochist that likes to take advantage of innocent people!”

The woman tuts and shakes her head as if she were a disappointed mother.

“Now now Chris, that’s no way to talk to your boss is it? You knew this was coming or else you wouldn’t have tried to hide from your fate like a coward. Although, I do commend your other half, he was a bit trickier to track down but, we got him in the end,”

Chris feels his stomach twist as the woman gives him a sickening sneer. He had hoped and prayed that Changbin had managed to slip away but it seems like they aren’t as invisible as they thought. 

“Now, on to this little one here,”

Chris chokes on his spit as the Boss pulls Jisung’s head up from where he was glaring at the floor. There’s blood all over his face from what looks like a nasty nosebleed and Chris prays that they didn’t break his nose. A deep purple bruise stains the side of his jaw and there’s red fingerprints around his neck. 

Jisung’s warm eyes meet Chris’ and he has to bite back tears as the smaller boy tries to give him a strained smile.

“He’s so pretty don’t you think? It’s a shame he had to be the one but, if you hadn’t helped him, I don’t even want to imagine what they would have done to him. I know those boys can get quite handsy, especially with the small ones,”

The Boss says it without a hint of pity, just pure malice and Chris can feel the bile rising in his throat. 

“However, nothing comes without a price little one, so you’re going to have to pay, do you understand?”

She addresses Jisung this time but the boy only looks away silently. The Boss lets out an exasperated sigh when she doesn’t get an answer.

“He’s a weak one. Won’t last a day,”

“What are you going to do to him?”

Chris is surprised by his own voice, it comes out panicky and scratchy and he mentally curses himself.

“Aw, is little Channie worried about his boyfriend? How cute. Well if you’re so eager to know, he’ll be joining us,”

Chris sees Jisung’s eyes widen as well and figures this is the first time he’s heard about his fate.

“After we get done with your little punishment and make sure you remember who you belong to Channie, we will set you and your little boyfriend free, but don’t take that to mean your contracts are over. In order for both of you to pay back your debts, you will continue working for this society and be kept under a stricter watch so you don’t try any funny business again. I’ll be shocked if the kid survives for more than a few days out here. As for Bin, well, we’ll see,”

Chris fumbles at the Boss’ last statement as she turns to stock out of the room with a wicked grin. 

“W-what did you do to him?”

The woman stops in the doorway before spinning on her heel to face him one more time.

“Don’t worry about that little one, he’s just being reminded of his place,”

Chris can only imagine what that implies and it makes his stomach flip dangerously before the door is slammed shut. His mind conjures up horrid images of Changbin, beaten, bloody, dead, and he has to choke down a sob. He can’t lose Changbin, he can’t live without-

“Chris...”

He looks down at Jisung and his heart breaks even more when he sees the lack of emotion in the boy’s eyes. Two innocent people are suffering, and Chris can’t help but feel that all of this is his fault.

“It’s gonna be alright, Jisung, we’ll find a way out-“

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, kid,”

Chris jumps at the voice, forgetting about the presence of the guard. He hears Jisung curl in on himself more as the man nears them. It’s only then that Chris sees the deadly looking whip clenched in the guard’s hand and his blood runs cold. 

“A bit old fashioned for my taste, but the Boss wanted you to be punished without being inhibited from your work. This one will leave a nice sting for a few days and some lovely scars to remind you of who you belong to,”

Jisung tries to squirm away from the guard as he stands in front of them, but Chris is the one the man reaches to untie. He isn’t out of his bounds for long and suddenly finds himself held upright by his wrists tied to a hook in the ceiling. He hears Jisung let out an alarmed shout as the boy struggles against his ropes on the floor behind him.

“Sit back little one and enjoy the show,”

The guard’s gruff voice comes from right behind Chris before his shirt is ripped off and he flinches as the cold air makes contact with his skin. It takes only a millisecond before a loud crack sounds and there’s a line of fire licking across his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof I'm sorry, next chapter will not have as much violence and will be much fluffier! (I'm a hoe for hurt/comfort if you couldn't tell)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed and come back next week for more!~  
<33


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His heart aches for the boy and he can’t help himself when he places a soft kiss on his head. No matter how many missions they’ve done together and the amount of times they had to literally stitch each other back up, Changbin will never get used to Chris being in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much action in this one and it's kinda short but we get some plot! and comforting boys! Sorry for the lack of Jisung POV but it's coming back soon <3
> 
> btw: the - in this chap means a small time skip not pov change
> 
> TW: mentions of violence and blood

Changbin sits up in his cell, too worried to sleep despite it being the early hours of the morning. They had stopped torturing Chris a while ago, but he couldn’t get the boy’s screams of pain out of his head, each one feeling like a dagger through his own heart. He kept his fingers on his cheek the whole night, trying to let the soft memory of Chris’ lips drown out his agony. 

There are no windows in his cell and it's pitch black in the small room, so he jumps when he hears the metal door screech open. There’s the loud thump of something hitting the ground before the door is slammed shut again. Changbin is shocked into silence for a few beats before he hears a whimper that he could pick out anywhere.

“Chan, fuck, are you okay?”

He stumbles over to where he thinks the boy is and feels around until his fingers meet the bare skin of someone’s chest. He’s afraid to touch Chris in case he hurts the boy, but he can’t resist pulling his face into his shaky hands just to make sure that he is actually there. 

“What did they do to you?”

Changbin is caught a bit off guard when Chris pushes him to the ground in an almost bone crushing embrace, but he savors the comfort of the contact.

“They whipped me Bin, like a dog,”

He feels Chris tremble in his arms and makes sure to rest his hands on the boy’s hips and not his back where he can just imagine the angry welts. 

“It’s gonna be okay Chan, we’ll get them back somehow I promise. We’ve been through worse, we can get through it together…”

His heart aches for the boy and he can’t help himself when he places a soft kiss on his head. No matter how many missions they’ve done together and the amount of times they had to literally stitch each other back up, Changbin will never get used to the older being in pain. 

The sound of rustling next to them makes Changbin jump.

“Who’s there??”

“Hey Changbin,”

It’s a quiet whisper but it shocks Changbin into a gasp as his heart pounds painfully in his chest.

“J-Jisung?”

“Yeah...”

Chris shuffles in Changbin’s arms so his face isn’t buried into his shoulder anymore and he can choke out a question to the younger boy.

“How did they find you?”

“They um, used your phone to lure me to the boundary which I was dumb to follow, and then they kinda threatened me with your safety to get me to go with them. When they got me here I kinda freaked out and tried to fight back, which is why I got punched, but otherwise they didn’t really hurt me that much...”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault. If I hadn’t given you my number they wouldn’t have found you and, and if we just-“

“Chris, it’s not your fault, I was dumb enough to go along with it and if you guys hadn’t saved me I don’t even want to think about where I’d be now. I’ll just work here until my debt is up, at least we’re all alive and together,”

Changbin hears Chris sniffle and the boy releases him to embrace Jisung. At this, Changbin feels something pull at his heartstrings, but he can’t put a finger on it. 

-

They fall asleep shortly after that, Chris laying delicately on his stomach to avoid touching the welts on his back and Jisung somehow managing to snuggle into Changbin’s arms for comfort. He feels like he’s doing something he shouldn’t, but he isn’t going to just push the boy away, even if he does try to ignore the warm weight. 

Changbin is jolted awake by a muffled metallic clang ringing through the small cell. He gently shifts to resituate Jisung onto the ground and untangles their limbs so he can get up and investigate. Dim light filters through a small cutout in the cell door, and Changbin is shocked to see Chris’ knife lying in the pine straw a few feet away. He quickly gets up on his tiptoes to peek out into the hallway and almost falls back with a gasp when he comes face to face with another person.

The kid has unruly orange hair and an expression just as shocked as Changbin feels when their eyes meet.

“What are you doing?”

He hisses this to the boy and glances behind him to make sure they’re alone in the hall.

“Helping,”

It’s just one word but Changbin can hear a thick accent in it. When the boy hands him his pistol and a scratched up camera his eyes widen even more.

“Why?”

“They.. bad people. You.. good people. Get out. Help us. Please,”

The sentences are broken and crude but Changbin can make out what the boy is trying to say. If they can get out, they might be able to take the society down from the outside and free everyone from their debts. It’s a good plan but it will be almost impossible to pull off with just three people. 

“Thank you,”

“Be safe. Goodbye,”

And with that the strange boy’s face disappears from the cutout and Changbin is left to turn his gun over in his hands lovingly, reveling in its familiar weight and power.

“Bin? What’s that?”

He picks up the knife gingerly from the floor and turns around with a grin on his face but it falls when he catches sight of the boy. Chris is struggling to get up from the floor and Changbin gets a clear view of his back for the first time. Angry red marks cross his back and broad shoulders, some cut through the skin so deep that they’re still oozing blood. 

He tries to not stare for too long and instead sets the weapons and camera down to gently help the boy up. Chris grunts in pain as the sore skin is stretched across his back when he moves, each sound sending a jab into Changbin’s stomach. When they’re standing fully, Changbin bends back down to pick up the knife and present it to Chris whose eyes widen as he delicately takes the handle. Changbin picks his gun up as well and slips it into the waistband of his pants, his holster having been taken off when he was captured. He gently lays Jisung’s camera beside the sleeping boy, making sure to not wake him. 

“Where- how-?”

Chris fumbles for words as he grips the knife in his palm, gaze stuck to the blade as if it was casting a spell on him. Changbin smiles at the boy’s fondness for his weapon, he’s had it ever since they met and has never let it go without a fight. 

“Some kid stole them and snuck them through the door. He said he wanted us to escape so we could help them. Like, take down the Boss and break the contracts so they can go back to their lives,”

Chris finally tears his eyes away from the knife and looks up at Changbin with a worried expression. 

“But that’s almost impossible, what are we gonna do?”

Changbin glances down at the still sleeping form of Jisung and back up to meet Chris’ warm eyes. He reaches out to gently touch Chris’ face, and feels his heart fill with a mixture of anger, determination, and something else he can’t quite figure out.

“Try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feelings? maybe :)  
and the next part of the plot begins! come back tomorrow for more~  
Also guess the orange haired cameo lol
> 
> Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you liked it! <333


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung sees the older sigh and start to turn back to Chris when he stops and scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. Jisung swallows thickly on instinct as Changbin’s hand raises towards his face, but the older drops it before he can touch his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chap is also lacking plot action but we get to see some more Chan/Changbin dynamic and also Jisung being slightly thirsty lmao  
sorry this and the last chapter are so short, but the next one is pretty long so hopefully that will make up for it :)
> 
> TW: v slight blood

When Jisung wakes up he feels terrible. His head is pounding from all the stress and his limbs are stiff from being tied up for too long. Chris and Changbin are conversing quietly to themselves so Jisung just curls up in the corner and wallows in his own anger for a bit. He can’t help but think that everything is his fault; he asked for Chris’ number, he’d been the one they had to save because he was dumb enough to be attacked, and he stupidly fell for the texting trap so now they’re all stuck here. Hell, he’d been stupid enough to get close to the boundary and take those stupid pictures of Changbin, he’s so stupid stupid stupidstupid. 

He cuts himself off with an angry huff. If he got them into this situation, there’s no use in just beating himself up over it, maybe he can actually do something to help them... 

“Oh, you’re awake,”

Jisung looks up from the floor startled, he’d momentarily forgotten that the other two were in the cell with him. He tries not to stare at Chris’ wounds or exposed chest as he and Changbin exchange a few more hushed words before the latter approaches Jisung. 

The black haired boy kneels gently in front of his balled up form and picks up something from beside him. Jisung’s eyes widen comically as Changbin gently slips his camera strap over his head. He forgets about everything else and quickly takes the device into his shaky hands, smoothing over the outside to see if there is any major damage. He finds only a few scratches, but none on the actual lens, and the screen and all of the buttons still work perfectly.

“Where? How? I thought they destroyed it…”

“I guess not, we got our weapons back too, so, at least one good thing happened today, right?”

Jisung sees Changbin trying to give him a reassuring smile but it comes out strained and doesn’t reach his dark eyes. Suddenly the joy from getting his camera back is squashed into worry again.

“Hey, Changbin, are you alright? They didn’t hurt you did they?”

He can’t see any evidence that the boy had gone through what Chris did, but he highly doubts they just let him off that easily.

“I’m fine Jisung,”

He can hear the lie in Changbin’s voice but he doesn’t push it, doesn’t want to make the other uncomfortable. Jisung sees the older sigh and start to turn back to Chris when he stops and scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. Jisung swallows thickly on instinct as Changbin’s hand raises towards his face, but the older drops it before he can touch his skin. 

“You said you only got punched, what about the marks on your neck?”

Jisung flushes and reaches a hand up to his throat and, sure enough, he can feel the fingertip shaped bruises pressed into the skin there.

“I- honestly have no idea? Maybe I got knocked out, I don’t know,”

He can’t really remember everything that happened between the bridge and being thrown at Chris’ feet, so it’s possible that something else happened. The knowledge makes him a little uneasy, but his thoughts are cut off when an angry huff sounds from the other side of the cell. Jisung looks past Changbin to see that Chris has stood up and is pacing frantically, the welts on his back getting aggravated by the movement and starting to split open again. Thin rivulets of blood start to trickle down the boy’s pale skin, disappearing into the black fabric of his pants. Changbin turns and stands up quickly in surprise, while Jisung just tries to keep his eyes from wandering down Chris’ exposed torso as the boy’s muscles flex with anger.

“Chan, you should be rest-”

“I don’t care Bin, these people need to pay for what they did to us, to everyone stuck in their shitty little flytrap society bullshit!”

Jisung sees a look of surprise and hurt cross Changbin’s face, but it is quickly replaced with a hard expression as the other crosses the room towards the frantic boy with determination. He moves in front of Chris and grabs his shoulders so the boy has to stand still and look him in the eye. 

“Chan. You shouldn’t be stressing yourself out like this, you need to sit down. You won’t do any good trying to be a hero if you’re in pain. We’ll get out of here and do whatever we can to get back at the society, but for now we just need to wait-”

“I don’t want to wait Changbin!”

The black haired boy looks taken aback at the desperation in Chris’ eyes, but sucks in a deep breath and moves his hands to grip the other’s clenched fists. He slowly lowers them both down until they’re sitting on the hard floor again, holding Chris’ intense gaze until it calms down to just a small flicker.

“Chris, this is a tough situation that we’re in right now, we need to think with our heads and not our scared hearts, okay? We’ve been through plenty of sketchy situations together but we’ve always made it out. How? Because we work together and think about it until we come up with a sound plan. No guns-blazing-break-out-of-prison shit is going to help us right now,”

Jisung watches with his mouth hanging open as Changbin’s words soften the tense atmosphere and calm Chris down so his breathing is normal and no longer angry and frantic. 

“Y-you’re right Bin, I’m sorry, I- I- don’t know what just happened there,”

Chris lets out a breathy laugh and Changbin reaches up to smooth his messy hair with a fond smile.

“It’s okay. You’re stressed and in pain and we have one more person to worry about this time, but we need to keep our heads on straight if we want to get out alive. I’m sorry for raising my voice but I can’t let you beat yourself up like that,”

Jisung can’t help but be slightly shocked at the scene in front of him. He’d never expect Chris to be the one to freak out, the oldest seems so level headed and confident, like a leader, and Changbin just seems so… edgy. If he were in Chris’ position right now, especially with the way Changbin is looking at the boy with such fondness in his eyes, he’d surely swoon, but maybe he is anyways. 

“And, I’m sorry Jisung,”

The boy is pulled back to the present when he hears his name, shaking the thoughts out of his head. 

“I’m sorry for getting so stressed out, I don’t want to worry you any more, that doesn’t usually happen,”

Chris says it softly with an embarrassed blush on his cheeks, and Jisung feels his heart thump.

“O-oh! It’s totally fine, sorry for being another thing to worry about…”

“Wait, that’s not what I meant, this isn’t your fault-”

“What if it is?”

“Guys.”

Changbin interrupts them with a sigh, moving to settle with his back against the back cell wall so they are sitting in a sort of triangle shape.

“Let’s not play the blame game alright, none of this is anybody’s fault, if anything it’s all our fault equally,”

“Whatever you say,”

Changbin throws his eyebrow up at Chris with a slight smirk.

“Oh, I do say,”

“Woah, who made you the leader?”

Jisung feels himself relax a bit as the two start to bicker good-naturedly. The air in the cell relaxes and the two continue to talk lightly, joking every so often. At least for the moment, their situation is almost forgotten so Jisung uncurls his limbs from around himself to stretch out. 

When Changbin says something that makes Chris finally crack a genuine smile, Jisung finds his hands moving before he can stop them, and suddenly a flash is illuminating the small room. Both boys turn to him, confused, and he can’t help but stare back with a blush, surprised at himself as well. He just accidentally took a picture of Chris, dimple and everything, with his shirt off, oh god. 

“Sorry!”

He squeaks out the apology before the blinding smile is directed at him and Jisung thinks his heart might actually explode.

“What, are you going to make a scrapbook of our kidnapping??”

“No! I-” 

The cell door suddenly screeches open so Jisung quickly cuts off and shoves his camera into his jacket. Chris loses his smile and all three boys scramble backwards as guards enter the room with guns trained at them unmercilessly. Any light or playful atmosphere is quickly squashed and replaced with a high tension and fear, coming from both the boys and the guards. 

“Get up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending hehe  
Chris got angerey but it's only bc he cares for Jisung and Changbin's wellbeing uwu  
I'm starting to try to introduce the Romantic Feelings™ but I don't know if I'm doing a good job with that so, sorry if the attraction is confusing or disjointed, although that might make sense since feelings are confusing when they develop
> 
> n e ways, thanks for reading and come back next week for more~  
<333


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a burst of suredness, he pulls the fabric up to reveal deep splotches of purple and blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chap focuses on Changbin and more specifically Jisung's thoughts about Changbin (¬‿¬)   
I hope you enjoy it <3
> 
> TW: violence, bruising, broken bones

“What??”

“I said get up! Up! All of you,”

The guard closest to Chris gives him a light kick to get him moving and Jisung can’t help but flinch as the boy gasps in pain. A shirt is thrown to the older and roughly pulled over his head before they start to pull him towards the door. Another guard has the back of Changbin’s hoodie clenched in his fist as he drags the snarling boy up from the floor with a gun to his temple. Jisung doesn’t think he’s ever seen a scarier expression than the one on the dark boy’s face, and he can’t help but admit that it’s frighteningly attractive. He’s not given much more time to think about anything before he’s being grabbed as well and shoved towards the cell door, cold metal pressing into the back of his head as a reminder to obey. 

Jisung is ushered out of the small room and into a dim hallway, followed shortly by the others. Surprisingly, the corridor is bustling with people, guards and society members alike, and there’s a frantic air of fear pressing down on all of them. As they come to the end of the hall, they take a sharp right and head down a staircase into a slightly less crowded hall. They stop in front of a heavy door and, just as it opens, Jisung hears scrambling from behind him. 

He turns just as Changbin elbows a guard in the nose before trying to slip from his tight hold. Chris seems to get the memo too because he reaches for his knife and quickly tries to knock the gun out of the nearest man’s grasp. Before Jisung can make any moves himself, the ruffled guards seem to snap out of their shock. He watches in horror as Changbin is tripped as he tries to run for it and once he’s on the ground, they kick him until he’s coughing uncontrollably. The one holding Chris gets his pistol back in control and uses the grip to hit him on the head. Jisung can’t seem to will his limbs to move, so his body easily follows when he’s hastily thrown into the open doorway. He grips his camera through his jacket as he lands hard, but looks up just in time to see the guards struggle to get the other two in the room before the door is slammed shut and locked with a click.

The three boys sit in silence for a few beats, sprawled across the hard floor, the only sound being their ragged breathing. Changbin is the first to break the quiet with an annoyed sigh from where he’s laying on his back. 

“Shit… I thought that’d work,”

Jisung takes in their surroundings once he calms down his racing heart. They’ve been moved to a slightly nicer room, although the only nice thing about it is the artificial light from the ceiling and the fact that it’s eerily spotless. He looks back at the other two boys and finds Chris shifting uncomfortably as the shirt they’d given him irritates his wounds. He watches as the oldest pulls his knife out of his waistband to fidget with it, thin fingers dancing too close to the sharp edge for Jisung’s comfort. 

When his gaze flits over to Changbin, he finds the boy with his eyes closed tight, wheezing slightly as he takes in breaths. Jisung feels concern wash over him and he scoots over to the black haired boy.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Changbin opens his eyes to stare at the ceiling and Jisung feels as though he’s being blocked out, the black eyes looking hard and devoid of emotion. The look scares him slightly, reminding Jisung of their first meeting; when he was an intruder and not trusted, when he thought Changbin was a heartless criminal. Since then they have seemed to open up to each other, but it looks like the fight in the hallway has put Changbin back into that original mindset. The boy doesn’t look at him, even when Jisung brushes the messy hair off of his forehead in an attempt to remind him that he’s safe. 

“I thought we could use the commotion in the hallway as a distraction to get out…”

“It’s okay Changbin, we’ll figure out something else later, but I don’t think you’re in good condition to do very much right now... ”

Jisung reaches out to touch Changbin’s hand, but pulls away when the boy gives a mirthless laugh that ends in a coughing fit. Chris notices this with a worried look and moves over to sit on Changbin’s other side, cringing as he hears how hard the boy is breathing.

“That doesn’t sound good Bin…”

“I’m fine,”

Jisung is almost certain that the boy isn’t fine so, against better judgement, he reaches a hand towards the hem of Changbin’s hoodie. In a burst of suredness, he pulls the fabric up to reveal the grip of Changbin’s pistol along with deep splotches of purple and blue. Jisung gasps and he feels Chris tense up next to him. The dark splashes of color contrast almost beautifully with the pale skin of Changbin’s torso and accentuate the slightly unhealthy dips of his ribs and stomach. The boy doesn’t say anything or try to hide his exposed body, he just looks away with a cold, defeated gaze. The bruises are way too dark to have just happened, which means he’s been hiding the injury from them since last night.

“Why didn’t you tell us…”

Jisung glances over at Chris and is surprised to see the boy looking hurt as he grips one of Changbin’s hands.

“It doesn’t matter, you were hurt much worse and you didn’t need to be worrying about me,”

“We could have done something to help, your health matters too… what happened to thinking with your head?”

“I am Chris, I’m fine.”

He doesn’t want the two boys to fight again, even if it’s just because they put each other before themselves, so he quickly clears his throat. 

“Changbin... I think you might have a broken rib,”

Chris turns to look at him with wide eyes and, while Changbin finally does look up at him, the boy’s eyes seem to go right through him. Jisung suddenly feels very small, but a voice in the back of his mind is yelling at him to do something. 

“What?”

“Uh, can I just check real quick… please,”

Changbin doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t say no so Jisung moves to position himself over the boy’s torso. He begins to gently remove Changbin’s pistol from the waistband of his pants, but pauses when the boy lets out an almost annoyed grunt. Chris lets out an exasperated huff from beside him before taking the gun from Jisung and setting it next to Changbin.

“Chill out Bin, you’re hurt, let us help you,”

Chris and said boy have a brief, but heated staring contest before the younger finally lets out a deep breath and turns his head away in defeat. Jisung glances between the two boys, unsure of what sort of telepathic communication just happened, before hesitantly continuing. 

“Uh, ok… the darkest bruising is mostly in a bunch of little circles like you were hit multiple times in the ribs and stomach with a small object, like the toe of a boot or a… high heel,”

Jisung gulps and hears Chris mumble out a quiet “that bitch!”, which makes Changbin flinch ever so slightly.

“The bruises have spread out beyond that though, and the colors are pretty dark for just the top blood vessels in the skin to have burst, so that’s why I’m thinking you broke something. I’m gonna, uh, just press on some areas to see if it feels weird, so… this is probably going to hurt, sorry,”

Jisung doesn’t want to allow any time to sike himself out, especially with how Changbin is still looking at him so blankly, so he quickly places his hand on the boy’s exposed right side. The skin there is warm and almost soft, and Jisung has to fight down a blush at the thought before shaking it out of his head. He slightly presses down with the heel of his palm and watches as Changbin flinches, too light of a reaction to be a broken bone. He repeats this action in multiple places, checking to make sure each rib is intact, until he gets to the last rib on the other side. As soon as he applies a tiny bit of pressure on the area he hears an unsettling pop before Changbin is thrown into a cursing fit as he squirms on the floor in pain. 

“Holy shit, ow, fuck!!”

“Oh, sorry! Uh, okay, one of your bottom, left ribs is definitely fractured so you need to not move very much or else it could get worse or even cause internal bleeding,”

Jisung feels Chris shift nervously at the words, his hand going to hover over the hurt area as if to touch it, before lowering it back down again. Suddenly, Jisung remembers something and his brain shoots up a red flag. 

“Wait, why’d you let me sleep on your side last night? You could have hurt it much worse with all my weight and-”

“Jisung, I’ve dealt with broken bones before, it wasn’t my biggest worry at the time okay?”

Changbin’s voice comes out strained, but Jisung can see some of the life returning to the boy’s eyes, even if it is slightly clouded with pain. 

“Well, you really shouldn’t move around that much if you can help it, I wish we had some ice or painkillers, or bandages for Chris’ back… or food,”

He scans the room to see if there is anything that he could use to help, but finds it completely empty. When his gaze settles on Changbin again, the boy has calmed down a bit, but his breathing is still a bit labored and he’s closed his eyes again.

“Bin, when we get out of here, promise that you’ll let us help you? I know we are both too stubborn for our own good, but you got pretty banged up this time, so let us take care of you okay?”

Jisung holds his breath slightly, waiting for Changbin to respond to Chris. He hopes the boy isn’t shutting them out for good.

“...okay. Thank you Chris,”

Jisung feels his heart clench at the interaction but he shoves the sensation to the back of his brain, making himself focus on how Changbin seems to be finally relaxing as Chris strokes his hand with his thumb. The oldest gently pulls Changbin’s hoodie back down and the boy reaches up carefully to grab his pistol and return it to his waist band. Chris has relaxed a bit and seems content, probably sensing that Changbin is no longer combative. Settling his eyes on the dark haired boy again, Jisung can’t help but notice how attractive he looks with his eyes closed and his sharp features and...

“Are you a doctor or something?”

Jisung jerks out of his thoughts and turns to Chris, spluttering slightly as the boy seems to study his face.

“Wh-what makes you say that?”

“You know a lot about injuries and stuff, and you seem like you know what you’re doing,”

“Oh, yeah, well, I was actually studying to be ER nurse at one of the universities in the city, but I had to drop out for, reasons…”

Chris looks like he has more questions to ask, but the boy just hums and goes back to playing with Changbin’s fingers, trying to get them to relax from where they are curled tightly into a fist. 

“Thanks for sticking with us,”

It takes Jisung a whole second to realize that Changbin is talking to him, too busy staring at his and Chris’ connected hands with something pulling at his heart. 

“W-what do you mean?”

The boy’s eyes have softened finally and are looking at him with a hint of warmth instead of that cold hardness. 

“I don’t think any other city boy has survived as long in the Suburbs as you have, and you’re helping and trusting two criminals you barely know. You’re either really strong or really dumb to be managing that, I haven’t figured out which yet,”

“Oh, thanks I guess, I don’t think you guys are bad necessarily, you’re just trying to survive. And I’ll never be as strong as you guys, I mean, you just fought those guards with broken bones and torn skin while I can’t do anything but take dumb pictures and freeze with my mouth open like an idiot,”

Chris lets go of Changbin’s hand to take Jisung’s and the younger boy welcomes the warmth engulfing his cold fingers.

“Hey, no one expects you to whip out some crazy fighting moves when you’ve never had any reason to use them, Changbin and I have been doing this for a long time, and just between us, I think you’re pictures are really good,”

“You’re just saying that because he took one of you,”

“I would tell you to shut up, but you’re broken so I’ll let it slide,”

Jisung lets out a small laugh at the bickering and tries to fight the blush rising to his cheeks from Chris’ compliment and the steady grip on his hand. 

After a while, Changbin resituates himself on the floor so he can lightly grip his aching side before throwing Jisung a strained smile and closing his eyes again. Jisung finds his gaze wandering over Changbin’s face before glancing over at Chris and finding him doing the same. He wonders how these two beautiful boys ended up in such a shitty situation, and how the hell he’s going to deal with the attraction he feels budding deep in his chest. It scares him to admit it, even just to himself, but he thinks he's falling for them, both of them, at the same time. With how adamantly he's avoided feelings after his last relationship, the revelation makes his stomach turn a bit.

“Try and rest Bin, we’ll figure out a new plan later,”

A calm lull falls over them for a bit, but Changbin’s eyes don’t get to close for more than a few minutes before they’re snapping open again at the sound of a blaring siren ripping through the silence. The boy shoots up into a sitting position before groaning and gripping his side in pain. Jisung's eyes widen dramatically and he can’t help but cower into himself on the floor as he presses his hands into his ears to block the sound.

“A raid? Now?!”

Jisung makes out both immense joy but also vibrant fear in Chris’ eyes as the boy rushes to the door. Changbin stands with much difficulty and reaches a hand out towards Jisung. He reluctantly moves his hands away from his ears to take the offering and is shakily pulled up to stand. When he makes eye contact with Changbin, there’s a mischievous glint in them that makes his heart thump and gives him just a flicker of hope.

“I guess we’ve got our new plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jisung! admitting! his feelings! even if it's to himself thats ok it's a big step for him  
Sorry for beating up Changbin but I had to do it for the Plot™
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, come back tomorrow to see what happens with this 'new plan' :)  
Also wow! this fic has gotten so many kudos thank you!!!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung loses all orientation of where they are or what direction they are going, but the other two dart through the empty streets and tight corridors as if they’ve done it a thousand times before, and considering their situation, that seems likely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOF sorry guys I had a class today and completely forgot to upload, I don't think the 12 est will be a problem from here on out but I'll let you guys know if I have to change it to something later
> 
> TW: uhhhhh I don't think there's really anything this chap :)

“We’ve got our new plan.”

Jisung lets Changbin drag him to where Chris is waiting excitedly by the door, very confused by the whole situation and not loving the way that the siren pierces his eardrums. 

“What’s happening??”

Just as he asks, the door clicks open and he’s being dragged out into the hallway by a suddenly energetic Chris. The hall is empty but the siren fills the space with an ear splitting noise that Jisung would usually run from, if he wasn’t being held in place by Changbin’s hand gripping his own. 

“A police raid on the Suburbs! The buildings pretty much just automatically shut down, that’s why everyone was so freaked out earlier, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy about the police in my life!”

Chris grins and reaches down to tug Jisung’s hand forward, but he doesn’t move yet, throwing a worried look beside him to the other boy who is still clutching his side in pain. 

“Wait, but what about Changbin’s broken-”

“We can deal with it later, let’s go before people notice we’re gone,”

Still not convinced that Changbin can afford to move right now, he looks in between the two boys frantically, not sure what to do. Chris looks at him with pleading eyes, but it isn’t until Changbin gives his hand a reassuring squeeze and whispers out a small ‘its fine Jisung, we have to go’ that he gives in and starts forward. 

They run to the end of the hall and Jisung sees people begin to frantically appear from doorways and scramble in all directions, but no one seems to pay them any attention. He follows Chris, who seems to know exactly where he’s going, with Changbin right beside him as they fight their way against the flow of scattering people. At one point someone runs into Changbin’s side and the boy lets out a loud yelp, clutching onto Jisung’s hand even tighter, but the injured boy doesn’t even pause for a full second before continuing on. 

They dart through what feels like an endless maze of hallways before they suddenly burst through a door and out into a dirty alleyway. The sirens are much duller out here, but the air is still buzzing with fear and excitement as yells and shouts sound from the distance.

“Fuck yeah!”

Chris yells it right beside his ear and he flinches, but Changbin quickly hushes him before taking the lead and heading further into the deserted alley. The Suburbs seem to have emptied completely, or else everyone is hiding, because they don’t run into a single soul besides a mangy cat as they pass makeshift tent homes propped up against dilapidated buildings and goods carts that only have slightly rotten fruit and sometimes crude wood carvings. If they weren’t running for their lives, Jisung would have loved to stop and take hundreds of pictures of the scene, but they are so he reluctantly keeps his camera tucked into his jacket.

After a while, Jisung loses all orientation of where they are or what direction they are going, but the other two dart through the empty streets and tight corridors as if they’ve done it a thousand times before, and considering their situation, that seems likely. They run for a few more minutes before the low, gloomy buildings start to dissipate and Jisung finds his feet hitting scraggly grass instead of packed dirt. Changbin has long since let go of his hand because he runs slightly faster, even with his injury, but he makes sure to glance back every so often to see that Jisung is still right behind them.

Soon they are sprinting across the open field towards the skyline of the city, and Jisung can’t help but notice that the usually crisp glow of the buildings looks distorted and blurry now. When he glances to his right, he sees flashes of blue and red lighting up the usually dull grey Suburbs, almost giving the illusion of some kind of morbid disco. He can probably count on one hand the amount of police raids he’s seen, but he remembers one that happened around the time he moved into his apartment because he could see those same flashing lights from his living room window. 

The raids are basically unannounced events where the city police go into the Suburbs to put the criminals in their place, but no one in the city actually knows what they do to them. There is no structure or government of any kind once you cross the city limit, so they are told the exiles need to be reminded every once and awhile that they aren’t living without punishment. It’s mainly a scare tactic, but it seems to do its job; no one ever crosses the boundary unless permitted, well, except for Chris and Changbin, Jisung muses. 

The growing dimness of the late afternoon gives them a bit of cover, but Jisung can’t help but feel anxiety coursing through his veins at their vulnerability, especially with the police so nearby. They come to the train tracks and run along the rusty rails for a bit until they hit the concrete boarding platform and quickly duck through the crumbled hole he fell through before. When Jisung makes contact with the ground, he collapses into a panting pile, lungs screaming for air. He thanks whatever deity might exist that they are far enough away to no longer hear those god awful sirens. 

“Oh man, that was awesome! I forgot how great an escape feels, I can’t believe we were that lucky, wow!”

Chris is pacing excitedly and Jisung wonders how the boy is still alive after all that exercise. He looks over at Changbin and finds the boy leaning against one of the painted walls with a hand tightly gripping his side and a genuine smile on his face. Once he stops gasping for air, Jisung shakily grips his camera, feeling bad for having it bounce around so much from all that running, but so thankful to still have it with him. 

He slyly lifts the device up to eye level and focuses it on Changbin, unable to resist. The boy is watching Chris jump around with an amused expression on his face as he rests against a vibrant, fiery painting, and Jisung is almost blown away by the beauty. When he takes the picture he makes sure that his flash is off, the late afternoon light filtering into the space just enough to cause the orange wall behind Changbin to glow. He grins at the picture before letting the camera hang loosely around his neck again. 

He watches as Chris literally bounces over to Changbin to reach his hand out for a high-five.

“Did you miss this?”

Changbin’s eyebrow shoots up but the boy grins and happily connects their palms.

“You know what? Yeah, I kind of did, but not the broken rib part, that still hurts like shit,”

“Well now that we made our great escape we can actually do something about that. Man, you really take freedom for granted when you get kidnapped,”

“And how many times has that happened now?”

“... a couple,”

“Uh huh, and you say you’re good at your job,”

Jisung feels his smile grow with each passing comment and makes a silent promise to himself to not let them get hurt again. He’s definitely grown a soft spot for Chris and Changbin, and even in the short amount of time they’ve known each other, he feels like they’ve all connected on some deeper level.

Or at least that’s what he thinks until Changbin leans up and places a quick kiss on Chris’ lips. 

“That’s payback for earlier, and thanks for helping us escape,”

Jisung only numbly registers Changbin’s words, too focused on the bright blush illuminating Chris’ cheeks and the deep crushing feeling of loneliness and rejection in his heart. Of course they had feelings for each other, he was stupid to think either one of them would actually like him, especially since they barely even know each other, not that anybody would want him anyways. He’s just the victim they have to keep saving, they got stuck with him because he keeps making stupid decisions that end up with him being in trouble, there’s no other reason they would keep him around this long when they are clearly happier just the two of them-

Jisung slowly pulls himself out of his thoughts when he distantly registers that someone is talking to him. His eyes readjust from being unfocused and his arms uncurl from around himself as he looks up at the two boys again.

“Is it alright if we hide out at your place for a bit until we decide what to do next?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,”

Everything will be fine, Jisung just needs to forget about his feelings and move on before he does something stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100 KUDOS!!!  
omg thank you guys so much, I appreciate every hit, kudo, and comment I get!  
Also binnie and chris acting on their feelings, I think yes  
Next chapter we'll get to see Chris' pov for the first time so I'm excited!!!
> 
> come back next sunday for more!  
<33


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris lets out a sigh and heads to the fridge to pull it open. He’s not sure what’s up with the youngest, but it troubles him for some reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris POV yay! I actually liked how I wrote Chris in this chap and how he interprets things differently from the other boys (at least thats what I was trying to do lol)
> 
> TW: N/A, we on that PG grind I guess

Chris feels like his face is literally on fire. He cannot believe that just happened. Changbin kissed him, on the lips, for real. 

Vibrant energy thrums through Chris’ veins as his heart threatens to beat out of his chest. The smile on his face is so wide it’s starting to hurt, and he’s sure his dimple will be permanently engraved into his cheek but he honestly doesn’t care. They broke free from the society and nobody died, and now they’re going to figure out how to take the whole thing down, and Changbin kissing him is just the cherry on top. The very soft and sweet cherry on top.

The other clearly isn’t as affected by the action as Chris is because he’s currently talking calmly to Jisung, but he’s pleased to see the rosy dusting covering the boy’s cheeks nonetheless. 

“Is it alright if we hide out at your place for a bit until we decide what to do next?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,”

Everything is going to be great. Chris doesn’t think he’s felt this good in years, especially with the unmistakable warm feeling of happiness settling nicely in his chest. 

“We shouldn’t stay here much longer, this is where they found me last time so I don’t think it’s exactly a safe hideout anymore,”

Changbin nods in agreement so he glances around at his paintings one last time, only a small hint of sadness surfacing, before heading to their makeshift entrance. After watching Changbin scramble slightly when he tries to get out, all the while trying to contain his laughter, Chris hoists himself up as well. He realizes after a beat that Jisung is with them and turns back around to offer him a hand, seeing as the boy is just standing awkwardly at the bottom. He pulls Jisung up and is grateful that the sun has gone down because there is no way they could have done that discreetly, especially with how he overestimates how much the small boy weighs and sends them both tumbling backwards onto the platform. 

He can’t help but let out a giggle at their clumsiness, but he’s surprised to feel Jisung quickly scramble to get off him and stand up, like the boy doesn’t even want to be touching him. Changbin scoffs at them and reaches down to help Chris off the ground, muttering under his breath that he’s going to hurt himself more. It’s only then that Chris remembers the flames of pain licking at his back, having forgotten about it through the excitement and adrenaline rush of the escape. The pain has dulled a bit, but it seems like every move he makes irritates the skin, and some of the deeper cuts keep reopening if he stretches too far. He takes in a sharp breath and sees Changbin throw him a worried glance, which he dismisses with a quick smile, before they all set out towards the city lights. 

Without the sun to keep them warm, the cold night air bites at the three boys. Jisung pulls his jacket tighter around his form and Changbin puts up his hood, but Chris is left to walk in just the flimsy t-shirt he was given. He isn’t complaining though, because Changbin’s hand is warm in his grip and his content heart heats up his chest. 

When they near where the city buildings begin, Chris feels the atmosphere around them shift slightly; Jisung picks up his pace in front of them while Changbin starts to tense up and walk more cautiously. He isn’t too worried about being in the city tonight since practically the entire police force is preoccupied in the Suburbs, but he knows that Changbin is the one who would get in real trouble if they actually did get caught, so they boy’s hesitance makes sense. He squeezes the other’s hand as they step from the rough grass onto the even rougher concrete, reassuring him that everything will be ok.

Jisung practically power walks all the way to his apartment building and only glances back to make sure they are following when he gets to the door and pulls it open. Chris feels bad for the boy, he must be traumatized from the events of the past few days and afraid to even be outside. They climb all six flights of stairs, because of course the elevator is broken, and stop in front of Jisung’s apartment slightly out of breath, especially Changbin whose breathing sounds more like wheezing. Jisung silently reaches under the doormat and produces a key before unlocking the door.

“You know, that is the least safe spot to put a spare key,”

“Yeah well I didn’t really think this city was that dangerous, I guess I know better now,”

Jisung’s tone has a slight edge to it and Chris finds himself raising his eyebrows in surprise. 

“You alright Jisung? I thought you’d be more excited to be safe in your home again,”

“I’m fine, just really tired I guess,”

They follow Jisung into his apartment and the youngest quickly sheds his winter coat before pulling the camera strap over his head and disappearing into his bedroom. Chris and Changbin exchange a confused glance before the other goes to gently lay himself down on the couch. Chris lets out a sigh and heads to the fridge to pull it open, he’s not sure what’s up with the youngest, but it troubles him for some reason. 

The fridge is surprisingly empty; only a couple bottles of water, a package of unopened hotdogs, a half-gallon of milk, and a to-go box of something sit on the shelves. Chris grabs a bottle of water and downs it in one go before opening the mystery container and practically drooling at the sight.

“Hey Jisung can I please have this leftover pasta?”

After a beat, said boy reappears from his bedroom before heading over to Changbin with an armful of clothes, not looking at Chris.

“Uh, it’s like four days old but I guess. I’ve got some clothes that might fit if you want to change into pajamas,”

Chris shrugs and grabs the container of pasta before proceeding to open every single drawer in Jisung’s kitchen looking for a fork. Once he successfully locates one, he makes his way to the couch where Changbin is eyeing a green shirt and pair of grey sweatpants, trying to judge if they will fit. The youngest is just standing awkwardly next to the couch, seeming to be deciding whether he should leave the room or not. Chris feels terrible that the boy is uncomfortable in his own home, even if he’s not really sure why.

“Here, have some, I’m sure you’re hungry since those bastards didn’t give us any food,”

He reaches out a forkful of pasta towards Jisung, but the boy just blushes and looks away.

“I-I’m ok, I think I’ll just go to bed. There’s still advil in the bathroom to tide you over and we can get ice and bandages in the morning,”

And with that Jisung turns and walks into his bedroom, shutting the door after himself a little quicker than normal. Chris is left holding his fork in mid-air, perplexed at the younger’s actions before turning to the boy beside him and offering the pasta to him instead. Changbin graciously takes a bite before getting up and trudging to the bathroom to change clothes and no doubt down a couple painkillers. 

After a moment of thought, and many mouthfuls of food, Chris opts for just sleeping shirtless because the fabric really doesn’t feel all that great on his back. He pulls off the material and sets the half finished container of noodles on the coffee table for Changbin to finish if he wants. He eyes the pile of clothes still on the couch before digging through it to find some pants to sleep in. He doesn’t remember the last time he slept in comfortable clothes, so he sighs in relief when he untangles a pair of black sweatpants. Glancing at the bedroom to make sure the door is still closed, he strips off his tight jeans and replaces it with the soft material. It clings a bit to his hips and thighs, but the pants fit relatively well considering how much smaller Jisung is than him.

Now properly clothed for sleep, he rummages around to find a spare blanket in one of the closets and grabs a throw pillow from the couch before stretching out on the plush carpet. He’ll let Changbin sleep on the couch since the other would suffer much worse from lying on the hard floor, although it’s not all that uncomfortable to him. 

Despite the darkness of the living room, Chris glances up at Jisung’s easel a few feet away and smiles sadly as he studies the unfinished painting. The boy does have a really good eye for art, but Chris can’t keep down the guilt that gnaws at his heart at the sight of it. He can’t help but feel that he and Changbin have successfully ruined the life of someone with so much talent and life ahead of him. 

After a bit of silently worrying, Chris falls asleep on the floor with troubled thoughts of Jisung contrasting and mixing with the warm memory of Changbin’s kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one is short oof but tomorrow's is longer and probably better because I wrote this while Extremely™ tired!  
anyways thanks for reading lovelies :) <3
> 
> Edit: I haven’t had the chance to get Chapter 13 ready for posting yet, but it should hopefully be up sometime this week, sorry for the delay!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung sighs, he figures that since he’s the one who wanted an explanation, he should start asking the questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a doozy. Strap in everybody it's the finale and quite the rollercoaster of emotions
> 
> TW: smoking, bad anxiety attack, past trauma, blood, mentions of a very minor character death, mentions of murder

Chris wakes up to a cool draft tracing patterns of goosebumps along his bare skin. He grumbles, slightly disoriented, before realizing that one of the windows is open a few feet away. Changbin leans on the sill, black hair ruffled slightly by the light morning breeze and thin wisps of smoke floating up from the lit cigarette held delicately between his fingers. Even in his half asleep state, Chris can’t help but stare. He’s known Changbin since they were just two dumb kids causing trouble in their inner city school, but he feels like he’s seeing this beautiful person in front of him for the first time in his life. It’s as if he’s looking through a film that distorts everything slightly to create an almost fantastical effect on his vision, or perhaps he’s just seeing clearly for the first time. Chris can’t help but think that maybe the kiss ignited something in his chest that had been dormant before, maybe something muffled by the stress of their job or the constant worry over the other’s health. Whatever it is, he’s grateful to have someone to live for, Changbin has always been the person he lives for. 

Basking slightly in his heartwarming thoughts, Chris takes a moment to just lay on the floor and appreciate the man in front of him. Changbin has Jisung’s spare clothes on and Chris can’t help but grin at the way the sweatpants bunch up around his ankles. It’s hard for him to admit it, but the youngest’s long and lanky limbs give him a couple centimeters on both the other boys, although if you asked Chris, he’d just argue that they’re compact so they can slip away easier. 

With his eyes slowly moving up the boy’s body, Chris watches as he takes another drag of his cigarette before gently blowing the smoke into the morning air. He envies Changbin’s muscular arms, but, admittedly, Chris has always been better at speed and dexterity with his knife than brute force. The other had to learn how to protect himself when they are in close range and his gun is impractical, and the hand to hand combat training is certainly doing him well. As soon as Chris’ gaze lands on Changbin’s profile, the boy stubs out his finished cigarette and turns, making eye contact and giving him a small smile.

“Oh, good morning Chan,”

“Good morning. Uh, you know, we can stop with the code names, there’s really no point now that we’re not in the society anymore,”

Changbin pauses for a second, eyebrows furrowed, before pulling the window closed with some effort and sitting back down on the couch.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. That’s weird to think about, I mean, we’ve been with them for what, 7 years almost. I really can’t believe we put up with their shit for that long,”

“Well, we didn’t really have a choice, we were like 15 and our options were either to live in debt and work for them our whole lives, or die. That’s a pretty effective way to get people to join something,”

“Of course they had to do some manipulative shit like that, no one would willingly join an organization that benefits from a victim’s pain and suffering just to hold their healing against them,”

Changbin sighs, as if the memories were pressing down on his chest.

“7 years? How many people did you- did you, do that to?”

Chris turns around quickly, startled by the sudden voice behind him. Jisung is standing in the hallway, body slightly rigid and expression troubled despite the bleariness of sleep still in his eyes. The boy’s hair is a mess and the shirt he slept in is about two sizes too big. It’s the first time Chris has seen him without a puffy winter jacket, so he finally notices how petite Jisung actually is. His shirt hangs loosely off his shoulders and he’s still blinking to get his eyes adjusted, and Chris feels his heart tighten at the sight. 

“Jisung…”

Changbin starts slowly but pauses, seeming unsure if he should continue, and what he should reveal to the boy. Jisung just lets out an annoyed huff.

“I can hear you guys when you talk you know. I’m not dumb, and you don’t need to baby me with filters or whatever. I’m an adult... I can handle it,”

Jisung trudges to the kitchen and pours himself a glass of water before sitting at the counter and facing them with a determined expression, although his ruffled appearance makes it look more like he’s just pouting. Chris resists the urge to coo at the boy, certain that now is not an appropriate time, before letting out a sigh.

“It’s not that we don’t think you can handle it Jisung… we just don’t want to burden you with what we’ve had to go through. We haven’t led a pretty life,”

“...neither have I,”

The statement takes Chris a little by surprise but Jisung doesn’t give him time to question it.

“I-I want to know what’s going on in your lives, I know it’s selfish but you’re the only people I know and I’m kind of lonely and I like you guys…uh, b-being around you guys. I don’t care if you’ve had an ugly past, we’re all here now so...”

Jisung looks down into his glass of water and an awkward silence falls over them for a few beats before Changbin clears his throat.

“Okay,”

The youngest looks at Changbin with a confused expression, reminding Chris of a puppy.

“Okay?”

“We’ll tell you whatever you’re curious about because there’s really no use in hiding anything, but after that we really need to eat and take care of some important things,”

“Uh, like what?”

“Well, first of all we need to change your locks because somebody probably has your keys. Also it would be a good idea to properly treat Chris’ wounds before he dies of an infection,”

“Oh wow, that’s reassuring,”

“You’re telling me? Someone has the keys to my house and probably wants to kill us…”

Chris snorts at Jisung’s comment but feels a coil of anxiety materialize in his gut at Changbin’s decision. There’s a lot of things that he’s had to do and had done to him that he doesn’t know if he wants Jisung to find out about. He doesn’t want to necessarily leave the boy in the dark, but he also feels like something might scare the younger away, and that thought makes his heart hurt. 

-

Jisung moves from his kitchen counter to sit on the coffee table, feeling like the conversation they were about to have should be more intimate than talking across the living room. He only slightly regrets this decision when he looks at Chris and Changbin and finds them looking hesitant. The oldest is sitting cross-legged on the floor, gaze cast down as he draws random shapes into the carpet with his finger. Changbin is on the couch in front of him and clearly trying to form the right words, opening and closing his mouth slightly. Jisung sighs, he figures that since he’s the one who wanted an explanation, he should start asking the questions.

“Okay, um, so how did you guys meet?”

Chris and Changbin share a glance and Jisung can’t tell if the twinge in his chest is from nerves or the way that they look at each other. Chris is the one to speak first.

“We were both born here in the city, lived on the same street and went to grade school together. When we got to high school, we started messing around, you know, we thought we were cool or whatever, but then we got into some actual trouble…”

The boy trails off, a mixture of sadness and nostalgia crossing his face, so Changbin continues for him.

“Uh, basically, we were running around the streets at night, not really doing anything illegal except breaking curfew, but we came across this guy in one of the alleys. It was dark but he, he was attacking this girl, and I had my switchblade with me so I tried to get him to leave with some threats but he wouldn’t let go of her so I s-stabbed him. We didn’t know what to do but the police got there quickly and took me in for m-murder.”

Jisung reaches forward to grab Changbin’s hand, quickly realizing that the boy’s breath is picking up and his words are getting shaky. Chris notices too and moves to sit on the couch next to Changbin, slowly rubbing the boy’s leg in a calming manner. 

“It was my fault, and I-I don’t regret what I did, but that’s why I hate using close range weapons, the damage is too personal,”

Changbin slightly gestures to the space beside Jisung and the boy takes in a sharp breath when he looks over to see the shiny black pistol placed delicately next to him. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to seeing the boys’ weapons. 

“I was held in a juvenile center for a while until I was declared guilty and then they threw me across the boundary to survive on my own in the Suburbs,”

“Wait, but what about Chris, weren’t you there too?”

Chris shuffles a bit in his seat, hand going from Changbin’s leg to nervously mess with his fingers.

“Well.. I wasn’t the one with the weapon or the blood on my hands, and they decided that a trial for accessory of murder would take too much effort for a kid. I tried to lay low for a while, until a woman came up to me on the streets and said that if I wanted to see Changbin again I had to come with her,”

Jisung doesn’t like where this is going, it reminds him too much of how he got captured by the exact same people. There’s a sadness swimming in Chris’ eyes that makes him want to hug the boy for all eternity, but he figures the gesture wouldn’t be very appreciated from him. Changbin has already gotten the memo though because he’s slung an arm around the oldest’s shoulders and pulled him into his chest slightly. 

“Then before we knew it we were in the Suburbs being held at gunpoint and forced to swear our lives away to the society. They used the fact that I wasn’t actually restricted to the Suburbs to get me to run errands for them into the city, and Changbin insisted on tagging along even though it was super dangerous. We got good with our weapons and bonded over our missions, but we couldn’t ever be free. And-and we were forced to hurt way too many people,”

“I can’t believe you had to go through that so young. I didn’t even think about weapons or death until I was like, 18,”

Jisung curses himself when he feels his breath hitch at his own words, the thought of being 18 again sparking unsettling flashbacks. He quickly changes the subject and tries to push his own memories to the very back of his brain.

“When-when did you start painting Chris?”

“Ah, that. Well, I found that little hideout about a year ago and started stealing some paints from the city. I’ve always liked painting and I did it as a kid before, you know, all that happened. Honestly I never wanted anyone to find my paintings, I’d probably be beaten up if anyone in the Suburbs found out. Although, seeing your skills has made me appreciate art again,”

Chris locks eyes with Jisung and he feels a blush rise to his cheeks as he tries to duck his head and look away.

“Well they really are incredible, I almost died because I was practically entranced by them,”

Jisung mumbles the compliment out of slight embarrassment, but the others must’ve heard because Chris lets out a slight snort and Changbin giggles under his breath. He looks up at the dark haired boy and feels his heart rate pick up. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard Changbin truly laugh before, nonetheless at his own words.

“Hey, I already apologized for that. You were a strange boy that I wasn’t expecting to see, and your cute face couldn’t stop my instincts from thinking you were a threat,”

Cute. cute. Chris said he’s cute. Jisung forgets to respond for a few seconds, holding his breath as he feels his cheeks heat up with color.

“Good thing I stopped you from slitting his throat or else we wouldn’t be able to talk so freely now,”

Jisung hears the smile in Changbin’s voice even though he has his eyes trained hard on his own feet. 

“Even though we had such shitty pasts, they all led us together so, maybe fate is trying to tell us something…”

Chris’ words spark something deep in his chest, and the hand that the boy places on his knee makes his heart race for reasons other than his crush. 

“Just think of what we can do now that we’re free.. We can lead normal lives, do all the things we missed out on, like go to school and get real jobs, and have relationships,”

Changbin seems to be catching on to whatever Chris is trying to insinuate because his tone matches the other’s and he reaches to hold both of their hands in his own. 

Jisung doesn’t mean to jerk away quite so hard, but the reaction is instantaneous and sends him falling backwards off of the low table. He registers hitting the ground a moment after it happens and suddenly he’s hyperventilating on the carpet, arms going to curl around himself and barely hearing the shouts of surprise from the two boys. Soon there are strong arms surrounding him, lifting him up and placing him gently back down onto the couch. His head is flooded with images and his breathing is too loud to hear anything else, but he makes out two pairs of hands cautiously rubbing his back and smoothing his hair. He rocks back and forth, trying to get the memories to subside, until he feels himself start to come back down and hears a soft voice from next to him.

“Jisung, hey Jisung, everything’s okay, you’re safe, we didn’t mean to scare you.. I don’t know what happened so please talk to us…”

He lifts his head and takes in a shaky breath, finding both boys at his sides, faces filled with concern and, affection? The thought makes his head spin again and he lurches forward slightly, bile threatening to creep up his throat. 

“Hey, hey it’s ok, do you want some water? I’ve got a glass here if you do,”

Chris offers him a cup but he just shakes his head and swallows thickly. He really doesn’t want to throw up in front of them for the second time. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s ok baby, what happened, did I make you uncomfortable by touching you, we can give you some space if you want,”

“No! no, it’s fine,”

Paradoxically, he’s craving their comfort more than anything right now, but it’s also the thing triggering his panic.

“This is why, this is why I don’t have f-friends, I don’t hang out with people, I thought you guys might be different, I started, feeling things and thought it would be different but I can’t- I can’t,”

Jisung buries his face into his knees as he feels tears threaten to spill from his eyes. The feeling only increases when he feels Changbin’s warmth hesitantly engulf him in a hug.

“Can you tell us what’s wrong baby?”

The nickname from Chris makes him hiccup but he swallows it down and tries his best to speak clearly despite his mouth being muffled by his legs. 

“The l-last time I got close to someone, t-they were killed and and I couldn’t save him I couldn’t, I was studying to work in an ER but I couldn’t save him I couldn’t move,”

“Hey, hey baby, take a deep breath for me okay. We don’t have to talk about this right now if you don’t want to,”

Jisung sucks in a breath and shakily exhales as he tries to match Chris’ breathing. He’s coaxed to unfold his limbs until he’s sitting regularly and not in a ball, and savors the warmth from the two bodies on either side of him as they try to calm him down with soft words and reassuring touches.

“I-I’ve never told anyone this… but I think I have to, it’s been sitting in my brain for too long,”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with baby,”

“Ok, so a-a year ago,”

Great start Jisung. He clears his throat and tries again, readying himself to pull his demons out into the open and hopefully defeat them.

“A year ago I was still at university and I was dating this guy, I-I think I loved him and we were on our 6 month anniversary date. I used to have a lot of friends, and we were walking home from one of their parties, it was late and dark but I wasn’t scared of anything back then, had no reason to be. T-then we passed this one alleyway and heard shouting, like a fight or something, he wanted to keep walking but I hesitated and then, and then, there was a loud bang and and he collapsed and was covered in blood and I saw him die, he died right there in front of me and I couldn’t move I couldn’t help him. It was all my fault, I never saw anyone again after that, I quit school because I can’t look at blood anymore and I completely ruined everything,”

“You didn’t ruin everything Jisung, no one can expect you to react that quickly after such a traumatic experience, you’re body went into shock and you can’t help that,” 

Changbin, who had taken his hand during the story to try to keep it from shaking, quickly let go and took in a sharp breath.

“Is that why you panicked when I grabbed your hand? But we’ve touched before, what made it different now?”

“I-I’m just so scared… last time..”

“Hey, we can’t let our pasts rule us forever, it’s not healthy, don’t think about what happened last time, just try to focus on now,”

Jisung feels his heart clench as Changbin hesitantly reaches for his hand again, this time he gladly accepts it.

“I’m scared that if I love you, you’ll get hurt… and I’ve already fucked up everything…”

The other boys are silent next to him and he just wants to let go of everything and curl up into a ball forever so he doesn’t have to face the rejection that’s bound to come.

“Love..? who..?”

Chris stutters and Jisung can hear both hope and confusion in his words. Changbin stiffens next to him slightly and Jisung thinks he better confess now that he’s started.

“It’s selfish and I-I know you guys like each other already but, but I think I love you. Both of you?”

He can’t help but say it like a question, it’s too heavy and insane of a fantasy that he can’t seem to make it a statement. It’s silent for a second and Jisung is sure his heartbeat can be heard across the world. He’s refused to look at either boy for a while now and just keeps his eyes glued to the floor in front of the couch.

“So you, have feelings for us but you’re afraid something will happen like it did a year ago, and you think we only have feelings for each other so you’ll get rejected?”

Jisung sniffles and just wants to run away, he just wants them to laugh in his face and tell him he’s crazy for loving two people, two criminals, so he can just get the humiliation over with. But that’s not what happens. Changbin wraps around him first, burying his face into Jisung’s neck while Chris puts his arms around them both and places a tentative kiss on the top of his head before mumbling slightly into his hair.

“I’m so sorry life has been cruel to you, we’ve all got stuck with some really shitty circumstances but you know what, maybe us meeting has been the good karma that we need, and we can all start to heal now. You helped us break free from our restraints in the Suburbs, now we can help you break free from the restraints of your past,”

Jisung feels his heart swell at the fact that they didn’t push him away in disgust, but can’t help keeping down his hopes that Chris and Changbin could ever return his feelings, he’s broken and lonely and unwanted. He feels Changbin pull away from him and braces himself for rejection.

“Um, so Chris and I didn’t really get much time to talk about it with us running for our lives and everything, but I think we both agree that we’d love to have a place in your life, Jisung. It doesn’t have to be romantic if you aren’t ready for that, but we want to be with you in some way. And I promise you won’t have to worry about our safety, we can protect ourselves, and we’ll protect you too,”

Jisung stares at Changbin in shock before turning to Chris and doing the same thing, he searches their faces for any sort of malice or joke, but only finds sincerity. He takes a moment to breath before responding, afraid that he won’t be able to make a sound if he tries. His brain is split in two and battling with itself, wanting to be with them so badly but shrinking back at the fear that looms from the depths of his memories. He pushes pools of blood and sounds of gunshots completely out of his brain before he opens his mouth to speak, gripping both boys’ hands with confidence.

“I’ve felt something different since I first met you, maybe this time everything can be different, I want- I want you both in my life even if we have to fight for our safety every single day. I don’t want to live without either of you,”

Chris sniffles and when Jisung turns to him he finds that beautiful, blinding smile directed at him as the boy beams with tears in his eyes. He turns to Changbin and finds the dark boy grinning happily, shedding off every ounce of the scary man he first met.

“Then we’ll happily stay in your life forever, Jisung. We’ll get through all of this, together,”

Jisung feels like his heart is about to burst. Not one, but both of the boys he’s fallen for like him back. It’s taken him awhile to come to terms with his feelings since he met them, but he thinks he can finally call it love.

“So what do we do now?”

He can’t think of anything else that would make him happier than this moment, but he sees Chris’s grin stretch across his face even wider.

“Fight back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it! Sorry if the ending is a bit messy, I don’t know how well I did with the progression of feelings throughout the whole thing so it might seem kind of sudden, especially Changbin’s feelings for Jisung because I didn’t really get to show them that much. Although I feel like he would probably keep them more to himself or be more lowkey about it.  
ANYWAYS I wanted to write more about them taking down the society as Boyfriends™ but I severely overestimated how much time I would have to write this so I’m making it a series (yay) I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to write the next part but I’m leaving it open so I can do it at some point!  
I really really hope you enjoyed this fic and thank you so much to everyone who read along, left comments, and gave kudos. I appreciate you all so much <33

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any questions, suggestions, or just a hello in the comments!  
<3333


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